With Easter fast approaching, here are a couple of unusual suggestions to enjoy with your food over the holiday weekend.
Royal Tokaji Dry Furmint, Hungary 2019, Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference
You may know Furmint as the grape used for the excellent Tokaji sweet wines from the Tokaj region of Hungary but it can also be used to make premium dry wines with refreshing acidity and flavours of apple, pear and peach, and a hint of minerality.
Tokaj, in the north-east of Hungary, has a moderate, humid climate conducive to the development of noble rot, hence the long-standing reputation of Furmint for producing premium botrytised sweet wines. But in recent years, this versatile grape variety has been gradually building a name for itself as a dry white wine with a character of its own – think sassy Bohemian with a touch of nobility. It’s a wine that can certainly hold its own with Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
This Dry Furmint from Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference range is an excellent find. With high acidity, it is a medium bodied wine with a medium (+) finish and a smooth texture. It has aromas of apple, pear and peach, and flavours of apple, lemon, peach and pear, with hints of vanilla and an attractive minerality. An excellent match for grilled fish or other seafood dish.
Available from Sainsbury’s (£10)
Domaine des Tourelles Rouge 2018 (Lebanon)
Wine is probably not the first thing we normally associate with Lebanon but wine has been produced in the country for thousands of years. Archaeologists know that the Phoenicians were trading wine across the Mediterranean from what is now modern-day Lebanon for centuries before the birth of Christ, and as we read in the book of the prophet Hosea (780-725 BC): ‘People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine – Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon’ (Hosea 14:7).
Fast forward to more modern times when in the 1850s, Jesuit monks re-introduced viticulture with the planting of Cinsault cuttings in the Bekaa Valley where it had largely disappeared since the 16th-century when Lebanon was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire and wine-making was forbidden.
The rest, as they say, is history. These plantings, in what is now Château Ksara, were the foundation of the modern Lebanese wine industry which is thriving, with some 50-60 wineries nowadays in a country the size of Wales. Today, Château Ksara, together with Domaine des Tourelles, Château Musar, and Iksir, is among the top producers in the country.
Most grapes are grown at altitudes of over 1000m to counter-balance the hot, dry climate, and Lebanese wines are attracting attention from discerning wine drinkers around the world. The influence of French wine production is strong and Mediterranean red varieties such as Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan and Cinsault, together with the Bordeaux varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, dominate.
This wine from Domaine des Tourelles is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cinsault and Carignan. A medium (+) bodied wine, with medium (+) acidity and medium tannins, it has pronounced aromas of red cherries on the nose, and flavours of cherry, blackberry and plum, with a hint of spice, on the palate. It is a smooth, fruity wine, with a medium (+) finish that goes very well with lamb. It’s a perfect choice for Easter.
Available from Slurp (£11.95)
