&nbsp;

Calling all curious wine drinkers! Let&#39;s raise a glass to Furmint, a captivating white grape from Hungary with a fascinating history and an impressive range of styles. Buckle up, as we delve into the world of this intriguing grape variety.

A Hungarian Legacy: Imagine yourself in Tokaj, Hungary, a region steeped in winemaking tradition. For centuries, Furmint has thrived in its volcanic soil, basking in the warm sunshine. These grapes, loved for their thick skin and high acidity, became the cornerstone of Hungary&#39;s most famous wine: Tokaji. These sweet, honeyed treasures were once enjoyed by royalty and popes!

Furmint&#39;s Versatility: But Furmint is no one-trick pony. Besides the world-renowned dessert wines, it can also be vinified in a variety of dry styles, ranging from light and refreshing to full-bodied and complex. Think of it as a chameleon, adapting to different winemaking techniques to offer a spectrum of flavors &ndash; from citrusy and mineral to floral and even slightly smoky.

Comparing Furmint: If you&#39;re familiar with Sauvignon Blanc, you might find some similarities in Furmint&#39;s crisp acidity and zesty citrus notes. However, Furmint often boasts a richer texture and can develop intriguing honeyed or almond-like aromas with age. Compared to Chardonnay, Furmint tends to be lighter-bodied and less oaky, making it a great choice for those who prefer a more refreshing white wine.

Food Pairings: Furmint&#39;s versatility extends to food pairings. Lighter styles go beautifully with seafood dishes, while richer Furmints complement creamy pastas or grilled chicken. For the adventurous foodie, try pairing a dry Furmint with spicy Thai cuisine or Hungarian goulash &ndash; the acidity cuts through the richness, creating a harmonious symphony of flavors.

Ready to Explore? Now that you&#39;ve peeked into the world of Furmint, here are 4 renowned producers to get you started:

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://bevmo.com/products/34547">Royal Tokaji:&nbsp;</a>Experience the legacy of Tokaji with their classic dessert wines.</li>
	<li><a href="https://www.winemadeeasy.com/wine/white-wine/disznoko-tokaji-dry-furmint-2021-750-ml-60182.html">Diszn&oacute;kő Tokaj:</a>&nbsp;Discover their range of dry Furmints, showcasing the grape&#39;s versatility.</li>
	<li><a href="https://www.plummarket.com/store/2019-vega-sicilia-oremus-tokaji-furmint-dry-mandolas.html">Oremus:&nbsp;</a>Explore their award-winning dry and sweet Furmints, produced with meticulous care.</li>
	<li><a href="https://con-nois-seur.ca/products/furmint-2021">Patricius Winery:</a>&nbsp;Delve into their single-vineyard Furmints, each reflecting the unique terroir.</li>
</ul>

So, the next time you&#39;re at the wine shop or restaurant, don&#39;t be shy &ndash; ask for Furmint! This Hungarian gem is waiting to introduce you to its captivating world of flavors and history, one sip at a time.

&nbsp;

A Hungarian Legacy: Imagine yourself in Tokaj, Hungary, a region steeped in winemaking tradition. For centuries, Furmint has thrived in its volcanic soil, basking in the warm sunshine. These grapes, loved for their thick skin and high acidity, became the cornerstone of Hungary's most famous wine: Tokaji. These sweet, honeyed treasures were once enjoyed by royalty and popes!

Furmint: Hungary's Hidden Gem for Wine Lovers

Wines from grapes grown in higher altitude areas with cooler climate has become quite the trend recently. This specific growing environment gives intense flavor but elegance and freshness to the final wines. To highlight and champion these conditions more and more winemakers are starting to use alto as a marketing and labelling term to show their grapes were grown in high altitude vineyards.

Decoding the wine label: Alto

Brut is a word often seen on labels for different kinds of sparkling wine. As you may have discovered when drinking these wines, it indicates that the wine is dry, meaning there is no perceived sweetness in the wine. But how about Extra Brut or Dry, what do they mean and are they the same as Brut?

Decoding the wine label: Brut

Semi-sweet Riesling, a type of wine falling out of style. It’s a shame, since these wines are perfect to pair with flavorful cuisines like Asian or Mexican, or simply drink as they come under the summer sun. The higher level of sugar left in the wine also means that the alcoholic fermentation was stopped before finishing, providing a wine with lower alcohol level and therefor easier grabbing a second glass of.

Decoding the wine label: Spätlese

Have you ever heard the word Xinomavro? Most have not. It is however a word on many sommeliers’ lips today, as it happens to be considered the grape variety with the highest quality in Greece, and one that is trending at the moment. The fact that Greece have been making wine for a long time comes as no surprise, but they have never exported an amount to make sure wine lovers around the globe tried it. With the growing wine tourism many have discovered these wines and are serving them in wine bars and restaurants in many countries today.

Decoding the wine label: Xinomavro

Chianti Classico, Valpolicella Classico, Soave Classico… Why do all these Italian wine regions have the Classico addendum and what does it mean? What is the difference for wines labeled as Classico?

Classico is a wine term in Italy seen on a few wine labels and it indicates that the wine’s from the historic center of the region, the heart. Using Chianti and Chianti Classico and their Sangiovese-based red wines as an example, Chianti is a rather large wine district within the Tuscany region. Chianti Classico is located withing Chianti as the central part and the one that originally existed. Back then this smaller region was actually called Chianti, but as the region grew the quality of the wine plummeted and the well-known characteristics of these red wines were watered down. The reputation took a hit and sales diminished. Eventually this led to the creation of Chianti Classico, which would be drawn from the original Chianti borders to recover the typicity of these wines. Today the quality of both Chianti and Chianti Classico have risen a lot due to modern techniques and knowledge about pruning, planting and temperature control in the winery.

Decoding the wine label: Classico

In the rarefied world of fine wine, where bottles can command prices equivalent to luxury cars, authenticity is everything. Laurent Ponsot's gripping memoir "FBI: Fake Bottle Investigation" reads more like a high-stakes thriller than a traditional wine book, chronicling his relentless pursuit of one of the wine world's most infamous counterfeiters, Rudy Kurniawan.

From Burgundy's Vineyards to the FBI's Most Wanted: A Winemaker's Quest for Justice

Chablis – one of the more popular styles of wine today and a region known by many. Most are familiar with the word Chablis and the light, fresh white wine with a touch of minerality it brings. Even though it’s a renowned wine, few knows what it really is.

Decoding the wine label: Chablis

Many grape varieties around the world of wine have names local to the region or country they’re grown in, even though they’re exactly the same. The most famous example would be Syrah in France where the same grape is named Shiraz in Australia. Another variety with two names is Pinot Grigio, or Pinot Gris.

Decoding the wine label: Pinot Grigio

Have you ever seen the term sur lie on a wine label? It’s not a grape and not a wine region, but a winemaking method used to give certain styles of white wine a rounder texture and a more complex flavor profile.

Decoding the wine label: Sur lie

Tina Johansson, WSET Diploma Graduate and Michelin restaurant sommelier, and Robert Tas review the wine list at Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa.

Wine List Review of Bern's Steakhouse

Tina Johansson

Bern's Steakhouse

Cork Rules Script

Bern&rsquo;s Steak House

RT: Hello and Welcome to CorkRules!

I&rsquo;m your host Robert Tas along with Tina Johansson, WSET Diploma Graduate and Michelin restaurant sommelier.

Hi Tina, thanks for being back with us on another episode of CorkRules, - a podcast where we help simplify and demystify the wine lists at some of your favorite restaurants. We talk with certified sommeliers and wine professionals who point out interesting bottles, classic food and wine pairings, hidden gems, value wines, or splurge wines that will take your dining experience over the top.

TJ: Thank you Robert, great to be here.

RT: Today we&rsquo;re talking about a real Tampa classic, Bern&rsquo;s Steak House. It was opened by Bern and Gert, a married couple, in the 1950&rsquo;s and it&rsquo;s run by their son today. It started as a small, intimate restaurant, and today they have several different dining rooms to welcome 350 guests. One of these rooms is the infamous Harry Waugh Dessert Room, serving dessert and matching beverages only, like fortified wine and spirits. The room is named after the director of Chateau Latour in Bordeaux at the time, and it&rsquo;s truly an excellent way to end a dinner in.

TJ: And what a wine list! This one really is one of the heavier I&rsquo;ve seen. Page after page with amazing wines, and even though many of them are classics there are bottles from places like Hungary and China as well. And of course, there is a separate list just for the dessert wine and digestifs.

RT: Yes, Bern&rsquo;s really is an institution today. So what are your gems in the list?

TJ: Well since it is a steak house, I&rsquo;m in the mood for red. The 2019 Clonakilla Shiraz from Canberra in Australia would be my pick. It has the classic ripe fruit flavor of Shiraz but it&rsquo;s a bit lighter and fresher than the regular Shiraz. A great bottle with the less heavy meat servings like dry-aged carpaccio or Elk loin.

RT: Quite the bottle. But say I want to spoil myself with a truly special wine that you don&rsquo;t see on a list often, a wine list of almost 200 pages must have something unique? What would you drink that&rsquo;s something out of the ordinary?

TJ: Yes, they have quite a few exciting bottles actually. If you&rsquo;re into Burgundy wine they have bottles form basically all different areas and crus, but I would probably pick a wine from the northern Rh&ocirc;ne instead. I think that&rsquo;s a better fit for the food here. Why not go for the 1985 Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage, one of the best Syrah&rsquo;s in the world and a back vintage that can be hard to find!

RT: Wow, yes that&rsquo;s a bottle hard to say no to! Not a wine most people get to drink in their lifetime.

TJ: Yes, and the two bottles are also fun to compare. As you might know, Shiraz and Syrah are two names for the same grape variety just made in different styles where Shiraz tends to be more fruit driven, and Syrah a bit leaner and more spicy in general.

RT: Yeah, two great examples of the diversity of the variety! And now, since we are in Bern&rsquo;s, we have to finish the meal with dessert and fortified wine in the Harry Waugh Dessert Room. I&rsquo;m sure there&rsquo;s plenty of fortified bottles to choose from as well, but which one do you think we should end the evening with?

TJ: I would go for Tawny Port, a fortified wine made from black grapes in Portugal. A fortified wine is made by blending a fermenting wine with grape spirit to stop the fermentation and keep the natural sugars and aromas of the grape juice. That means the wine has quite a high alcohol at about 20% and also that it&rsquo;s sweet. A perfect way to end an evening and a fantastic companion with dessert. They have the Graham&rsquo;s 30-year-old tawny port, which has a perfect balance between dried fruit and more nutty and dark chocolate notes. Perfect match with the salted caramel bread pudding on the menu!

RT: I agree with you, fortified wine is great and most of us drink it way too seldom. It&rsquo;s very good with dessert, or as a dessert on its own. Or even with a nice cigar! So, thank you Tina for being back with us and sharing more of your favorite bottle.

To our audience, thank you all for joining us here on CorkRules.

If you would like us to review one of your favorite

restaurants, please send us email to: Info@CorkRules.Com or visit our web website where

we have a request form available, and we will do our best to get it in the queue as quickly as possible.

We are looking forward to being with you on another CorkRules episode soon. In the meantime, please check out our website for other episodes of your favorite restaurant wine lists wherever you get your podcasts.

And finally, drink what you love and please make sure you drink responsibly.

&nbsp;

END

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