Life Style / Wine Grapes / Furmint: Widely grown grape in Hungary and eastern Europe. Recent DNA analysis (2002) suggests the variety resulted from a Heunisch Weiss/Gouais Blanc c?page cross with an unknown hungarian variety. Has some susceptibility to fungus diseases, 'noble rot' (botrytis) giving a positive factor. Flowering early the berry has a pale greenish-yellow, slightly coppery skin on medium large, dense clusters. Ripens variably from vine to vine in late season usually with high acidity. Does best on well-drained soils. Used to create dry appley tasting varietals or blended sweet wines including the famous traditionally oxidative, long-ageing, ultra-sweet 'Tokaji' white wines (together with a 2nd main blend wine from the H?rslevl? variety, the latter known as the 'Linden-leaved' grape). Also grown in Austria where it is known as the white-wine grape Mosler. Vine plantings are also found in Croatia and Slovenia (former Yugoslavia) where it is known as the Sipon variety. Other synonyms are Moslavac and Grasa (de Cotnari), the latter name being the common one used in Romania where the variety is claimed to have been grown for 500 years since the days of Stephen the Great and is used to create a late harvest white wine from botrytis affected grapes with sugar content commonly exceeding 240 grams/litre. These ultra-sweet wines will often age for decades under the right cellaring conditions.
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Lifestyle / Wine Grapes / Zéta: Hungarian V.vinifera variety resulting from a Bouvier x Furmint cross. Is occasionally made into a varietal white wine having a green apple/pear flavor. Also can be blended with Furmint wine in order MORE
Life Style / Wine Grapes / Hárslevelü: Has many synonym names (see Geilweilerhof database in Foreword above). V.vinifera cultivar traditional to the Debr? region of Hungary. Ripens late, but before Furmint, on large clusters of fairly loos MORE