White grape variety
Furmint
Hungary’s great white variety: high in acid, smoky and structured, and the backbone of both dry Tokaji and Tokaji Aszú.
What is Furmint?
Furmint has thin skins and very high acidity, which makes it both highly susceptible to botrytis and capable of carrying enormous sweetness without becoming cloying — the exact combination Tokaji Aszú requires.
The dry category, which barely existed commercially before the 1990s, has become the region’s mainstay: structured, smoky, mineral wines that respond well to oak and lees.
It is frequently compared to Chenin Blanc and to Riesling, and sits somewhere between the two in weight and character.
Hungary, with a documented history in Tokaj.
The Vitis International Variety Catalogue, maintained by the Julius Kühn Institute, holds this variety as accession 4292 under the prime name FURMINT, with berry skin colour blanc and country of origin hungary, and the pedigree "ALBA IMPUTOTATO X HEUNISCH WEISS". 158 synonyms are recorded. Checked 2026-08-16.
- Šipon — Šipon is this variety in eastern Slovenia, where it is made dry, taut and unoaked rather than sweet. The border between the two traditions is a good deal sharper than the difference between the grapes, which is none.
What it tastes like
This is the envelope across every expression of Furmint, not a description of one bottle. Wide ranges are the honest answer.
| Dimension | Typical | Range | Variation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweetness | medium | Highly variable | |
| Acidity | high | Some variation | |
| Alcohol | medium | Some variation | |
| Body | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Fruit intensity | medium-plus | Some variation | |
| Aromatic intensity | medium | Some variation | |
| Oak influence | medium | Highly variable | |
| Savoury character | medium | Some variation | |
| Floral character | low | Consistent | |
| Herbal / green character | low | Consistent | |
| Spice | low-medium | Some variation | |
| Earthy character | low | Consistent | |
| Perceived freshness | high | Some variation | |
| Texture | medium-plus | Some variation |
Common flavours
Wines made from it
The same grape in different places and different hands. These are where the wide ranges above resolve into something specific.
Sweet white
Unambiguously sweet wines, concentrated by noble rot, freezing, drying or arrested fermentation.
Hungary
Tokaji Aszú
Hungary’s great botrytised sweet wine, from a region classified before Bordeaux — honeyed, smoky and held up by ferocious acidity.
Botrytised sweet wine
Wines made from grapes affected by noble rot, which concentrates sugar and adds its own honey-and-saffron character.
Hungary
Dry Furmint
Tokaj’s modern commercial mainstay: structured, smoky, high-acid dry white that barely existed thirty years ago.
Hungary
Szamorodni
Tokaji made from whole bunches without separating the botrytised berries — made either sweet (édes) or dry (száraz).
Where it grows
If you like Furmint, try…
Every suggestion says why it is connected and what will be different.
Closest matches
What is most like this?
Chenin Blanc
Both are high-acid, waxy, ageworthy varieties made across the sweetness range.
Slightly rounder and less smoky.
Riesling
Shared searing acidity, mineral character and dry-to-sweet range.
Lighter and more floral, without the smoky, waxy weight.
Dry Furmint
Both are made from furmint, and the structural profile is close across body, acidity and tannin, both come from the same country.
Expect it to be drier.
Similar but lighter
Something like this, but lighter?
Riesling
Shared searing acidity, mineral character and dry-to-sweet range.
Lighter and more floral, without the smoky, waxy weight.
Chenin Blanc
Both are high-acid, waxy, ageworthy varieties made across the sweetness range.
Slightly rounder and less smoky.
Alpine white
They occupy similar territory for weight and structure.
Expect it to be drier, and lighter.
Similar but lower in alcohol
Something like this, but less alcoholic?
Riesling
Shared searing acidity, mineral character and dry-to-sweet range.
Lighter and more floral, without the smoky, waxy weight.
Hunter Valley Semillon
They occupy similar territory for weight and structure.
Expect it to be lighter, and drier.
Spätlese
They occupy similar territory for weight and structure.
Expect it to be less oaky, and more floral.
Similar but fuller
Something like this, but richer?
Pedro Ximénez
They occupy similar territory for weight and structure.
Expect it to be softer and rounder, and sweeter.
Condrieu
Condrieu scores closest to Furmint across WineHQ’s taste dimensions.
Expect it to be softer and rounder, and broader and softer.
Viognier
Viognier scores closest to Furmint across WineHQ’s taste dimensions.
Expect it to be softer and rounder, and broader and softer.
What to eat with it
Ranked by WineHQ's pairing engine, which reasons from the structure of the dish.
Fillet steak
Works because the finished dish, not the raw ingredient, sets the target.
Grilled chicken
Works because ripe fruit balances the bitterness of char and smoke.
Grilled salmon
Works because the dish is rich, and acidity cuts through fat and refreshes the palate.
Salmon
Works because the dish is rich, and acidity cuts through fat and refreshes the palate.
Asparagus
Works because bitterness in the dish and tannin in the wine accumulate rather than balance.
Salmon in a cream sauce
Works because the dish is rich, and acidity cuts through fat and refreshes the palate.
How to serve it
Temperature
12–15°C
54–59°F · Lightly chilled
About 45 minutes to an hour in the fridge from room temperature, or take it out of the fridge about an hour before serving.
Decanting
No need to decant
Nothing about this wine suggests it needs decanting. Light, aromatic and sparkling wines generally lose more than they gain.
Glass
Universal wine glass
A medium tulip-shaped glass handles almost everything well. If you own one set of glasses, this is the set to own — the difference between a good universal glass and a grape-specific one is far smaller than the difference between a good glass and a bad one.
Ageing
Structured wines made from this grape commonly improve with age, though everyday bottlings do not.
Dry Furmint from Tokaj ages ten years or more on its very high acidity, developing a smoky, almost mineral character that has invited comparisons with Chablis and with Chenin. Tokaji Aszú lasts for many decades, though there the botrytis and residual sugar are doing most of the work rather than the variety alone.
Family tree
Established by DNA analysis. Ampelography alone could not have found these relationships.
Parents
Offspring
VIVC accession 4292 gives the pedigree as ALBA IMPUTOTATO × HEUNISCH WEISS. Heunisch Weiss is Gouais Blanc, which makes Furmint a half-sibling of Chardonnay, Gamay, Aligoté and Riesling — a lineage that runs through a great deal of European wine and whose surviving plantings are close to nil. Alba Imputotato is not in this catalogue.
Compare
- Furmint vs Riesling — Both are made across the full range from bone-dry to intensely sweet, and both are famous for acidity — so which one does what.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) — Julius Kühn-Institut, Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof
- Tokaj wine region regulatory information — Hegyközségek Nemzeti Tanácsa / Tokaj regional body, Hungary