“Rich, suave and juicy with a mild apple, dried fruit and apricot nose. Yellow stone fruit, mango, melon and pineapple, waxy with hints of caramel and showing good intensity. Dynamic and beautifully created…

“It’s a rare achievement for a winery to claim two Regional Trophies at DWWA in one year, and for different wine styles. Royal Tokaji’s Dry Furmint 2011 shows the class of Furmint produced in a dry style. The weather was a big factor in 2011. A warm, drought-stricken year meant almost no botrytis and thus very few aszú berries for classic sweet wines, but plenty of healthy fruit for dry wines. For the first time in 2011, this wine was vinified half in tank and half in barrel…

“Dry wine in Tokaj faces a unique challenge in the wine world, as producers need healthy grapes for top-class dry wine, as well as noble rot to make their legendary sweet wines. Both styles often come from the same vineyards, so growers can’t spray universally for disease prevention. According to István Turóczi, managing director of Royal Tokaji, ‘Here there’s always a good reason for a winemaker to have a headache — we’re at the northern edge of grape growing regions in Hungary, and can’t be sure of a crop. But when it’s good, nothing compares.'”

The 2011 Furmint is one of just 155 wines, out of 14,362 tasted, to win a Regional Trophy in the 2013 Decanter World Wine Awards.