Amid the undulating volcanic landscape surrounding the town of Mád in Tokaj, Hungary, the Király-Hegy (King’s Hill) looms large. Its commanding height is one reason, but the other is the strikingly tonsured crest, where a steep, terraced vineyard has been cut, almost at right-angles, from the surrounding forest. This is the Öreg-Király (Old King) vineyard. And for the past two decades, it has been at the heart of the Barta family’s Tokaj project.
Öreg-Király is not a new vineyard; the first definitive mention of it is in 1664, though it seems to have been planted centuries before that and it was listed as one of the ‘grand cru’ sites in a Tokaj classification made in 1737. Despite this pedigree, Öreg-Király was left to be consumed by the forest during the years of communism – its slopes unsuited to mechanisation, its vines deemed too low-yielding.
When Károly Barta purchased the site and established his winery in 2003, the project revolved around the revival of this vineyard. And not just the vineyard; Barta has also renovated a baroque manor in the middle of Mád which had belonged to the Rákóczi family – the one-time Hungarian rulers of Transylvania and, in a neat piece of historical rhyme, previous owners of Öreg-Király. The restored house is now home to Barta’s winery and cellars.
The resurrection of Öreg-Király required huge efforts. Half a century of tree growth was cleared and, in the upper reaches of the vineyard, the centuries-old terraces, made of black volcanic stones, were refurbished. Naturally, new vines needed to be planted. On the terraces, the vines were tied to stakes in the traditional high-density manner, while the lower portions were cordon-trained at a slightly lower density. Around 80% is planted with Furmint.
The results are not just photogenic; the vineyard has an envious combination of elevation (it’s one of the highest in Tokaj), a south-facing aspect, steep slopes and soils rich in the region’s ancient rhyolite tuff and a striking volcanic red clay, which forms stones that look like brains. And, since the site escaped the use of pesticides and chemicals during their most extensive and ruinous use in the latter half of the 20th century, Barta has always worked the vineyard organically.
From this vineyard comes Barta’s Egy Kis Furmint. The name means ‘a little Furmint’ in English – something of a self-deprecating name for a wine from such a storied vineyard. Still, it’s a reference to the fact that this is their entry-point wine, the ‘younger sibling’ to the Öreg-Király Dűlő Furmint. The grapes for the Egy Kis largely come from the cordon-trained vines lower down the slopes of the vineyard.
Given the effort gone into restoring their vineyards, Barta’s style is to emphasise site and fruit expression, with only quite subtle Hungarian oak usage for their top wines. Winemaker Ádám Tóth, who trained under the previous winemaker Vivien Újvári, keeps the approach to the Egy Kis simple. The grapes are picked a little early to avoid any botrytis (this is an Aszú grand cru, after all, and noble rot is in the site’s DNA). Fermentation is spontaneous and carried out in stainless-steel tanks. The wine is then left on the lees for around five months.
The fairly straightforward production acts as a wonderful prism for the site and the Egy Kis is a far more serious wine than one might expect for a so-called ‘entry-level’ wine. Every vintage – and the 2023 is a great example – seems to marry an inviting, approachable purity full of ripe citrus and orchard fruit and a hedgerow floral character with spicy, stony mineral tension and Furmint’s electrifying freshness. Both elegant and structured, there’s even a certain fleshiness on the palate as it opens. The lees and the touch of residual sugar (5 g/l) provide just the right level of textural support without being intrusive, the vibrant freshness leaving the palate of this 13% abv wine completely dry-tasting. Overall, though, it’s the purity in this wine that is so exciting – a characteristic noted by both Tam and Jancis in reviews of the 2021 and 2020 vintages.
For me, the Egy Kis is a consummate introduction to dry Tokaji Furmints, being both eminently drinkable and engagingly serious – and, at under £20 or around $30, very good value, to boot. And, though it’s delicious now, laying down a couple of bottles for a few years will surely pay dividends.
As if this weren’t enough, it also offers an enticing peek at the depths and intensity of its fantastic ‘older sibling’, the Öreg-Király Dűlő Furmint. Tokaj’s top single-vineyard dry Furmints are increasingly world-class but can be quite formidable in their stony, volcanic-spice, rapier-like character. The Egy Kis gives you a chance to dip your toes in the water. Though I would, of course, urge you to take the plunge, too!
The Egy Kis Furmint 2023 is available in the UK from Corney & Barrow and Hic! Wine Merchants and in the US through distributor Danch & Granger Selections.
Images are the author’s own unless otherwise credited. Image at top is credit Danch & Granger Selections.
Find many more recommended white wines from Hungary’s Tokaj region in our wine review database. Also don’t miss Tam’s exploration of Furmint in Hungary and beyond its borders in Putting Furmint, Blaufränkisch and Welschriesling on the map.
