Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/807384
Tokaj is best known for its honeyed late- harvest dessert wines. Celebrated as the "wine of kings and king of wines" by none other than France's Louis XIV, the region's famously botrytized Aszú and Eszencia wines are as rare as they are expensive— and they have to be: The process of making them is labor-intensive, and the conditions for "noble rot" (the fungus Botrytis cinerea) to take hold are notoriously fickle. In a good year, the amber-hued nectar derived from Aszú berries is layered in classic aro- mas of marmalade and dried apricot, fleshy quince and warm spice. When we think of Tokaji, this is the image we conjure. (Tokaj is the region; the adjective form of the word, Tokaji, refers to wines from Tokaj. —Ed.) But that image is slowly changing thanks to the work of István Szepsy and his son, István Szepsy Jr. This father and son duo have worked tire- lessly since 2003 to elevate Furmint, one of the principal varieties used in making Tokaj's delectable sweet wines, as a dry wine. It's an effort that includes painstaking research into clonal selections and identifying the right microclimates, many of them perched well above the rolling morning fog that gives botrytis the humidity it needs to thrive. An "Astonishing" Dry White On a particularly sunny Sunday afternoon in Toronto, I chatted with EPIC Restaurant & Lounge Manager Joseph Safian about his visit to the Tokaj region and his impression of the wines from Mád. In addition to managing EPIC, the main din- ing room of the historic Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Joseph oversees the hotel's wine program as well. "I found myself wondering why they hadn't considered making dry Furmint before," he muses. The answer to this question is as complex as the Szepsys' wines. In part, Tokaj was forced to rebuild its crumbling wine industry following the communist era. Szepsy Sr.'s efforts initially focused on recovering much of what was lost, including data about Furmint's myriad clones. The winemaker explains: "I spent my life in the vineyards, and you see that this vine behaves differently from the other, and that some are not so fat, and some leaves are smaller, the nodes are shorter and the flowering is earlier. And you feel that there is something different—the question was and still is, where can we find those parcels that will give the grapes a special aroma and structure?" The elder Szepsy continues, "In 2000, something happened, we made some off-dry wine for an American brand. It was during this time that we discovered a lot of things. I began to study the terroir, but our client didn't believe that soil was so important. We started to go in a dif- ferent direction, but one thing was clear—this dry wine was astonish- ing; it was from a late harvest, and it was very, very complex." On the other side of the continent in sun-soaked Southern California, Hotel Irvine's Hungarian-born Food & Beverage Director, Gabor Pamer, shared a similar view. "I was quite young and still living in Hungary when communism ended. I want to be very honest when it comes to Hungarian winemaking—we struggled back then. It was 'more is better,' and that was true every- where. The wineries in Eger started reducing their yields; it was really nice to see that Mád Village has done the same. The first time I visited Tokaj, it was all about volume. When I went back again, there was this incredible change. Forward-thinking winemakers like the Szepsy family want to bring in new technology and new techniques to the region. It was amazing to see how much effort and energy they pour into the wines they produce." A Change in Taste The other, more pragmatic reason for the stylistic shift toward dry Furmint is that fine dining itself has changed. "There's very little opportunity to sell dessert wines to our guests. We no longer have the etiquette of finishing a six-course meal with a sweet wine," Safian explains. Not even, it would seem, in a hotel as storied as the Fairmont Royal York. Furmint is evolving because it must, and we can see this trend—the gradual transition from sweet to dry wine styles—taking place in regions such as Portugal's Douro Valley and, to a lesser extent, even in Sauternes. In change lies opportunity, and with Furmint the Szepsy's have stripped away gilded layers to reveal the grape's underlying structure. It's always been there—like an artist's underpainting hidden beneath fat- over-lean layers of luminous oil paint and varnish. "Furmint is such a unique variety. As a dry wine, it's aromatic and crisp, and the nose is very, very sophisti- Joseph Safian, EPIC Restaurant & Lounge Manager, Fairmont Royal York, Toronto. Hungarian-born Gabor Pamer is Food & Beverage Director of Hotel Irvine in Orange County, CA. CREDIT: NICK WONG PHOTO: MARGARET SOSS Says Winemaker Szepsy Sr. of the historic vineyards of Mad: "This vine behaves differently from the other, and that some are not so fat, and some leaves are smaller, the nodes are shorter and the flowering is earlier. And you feel that there is something different—the question was and still is, where can we find those parcels that will give the grapes a special aroma and structure?" april 2017 / the tasting panel / 63