BALLA GEZA | Stonewine | Furmint | 2017
furmint

We will be evaluating wines in no particular order on no particular schedule. Just stay tuned and you will never miss our reviews. If the wine is tasted more than once, the rating table will be updated so as to reflect all the new impressions and observations.

Today we are going to review a very special wine, as it is the first single-varietal furmint wine we’ve tasted so far – Stonewine Furmint 2017 by ‘Wine Princess’ Balla Géza. Furmint is the same grape variety from which the world’s famous hungarian Tokaji Aszú dessert wines are made of. Furmint grapes succumb very well to noble rot, thus making it an ideal material for producing world’s renowned sweet wines with good natural acidity and huge ageing potential. Lately it has caught the trend to be made into assertive dry wine, very similar in style to Riesling. The late-harvest grapes are sourced from south-facing slopes, called ‘Öreg-Dűlő‘ (meaning ‘old-vineyard‘ in hungarian), in the Paulis vineyard, in the Minis wine region, situated in the west of Romania, on old, rocky and granite soils, facing the famous Mures river. The wine is also partially oaked, with 50% of the wine being fermented and aged in large, 500L hungarian oak barrels for about 6 to 8 months, matured on fine lees, with recurring battonage every second week. But enough with all that theory, that said and without further ado, let’s move on straight to our tasting results.
___________________________________________________________________________
Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
color: deep yellow
clarity: bright topaz shades

//Olfactory
intensity: powerful & noble
fruit profile: sweet fruits | stone fruits
__sweet fruits: yellow pear | yellow apple | quince
__stone fruits: apricot | white cherry | white peach
fruit character: overripe & dried

//Flavor
non fruit: herbal | sweet | other
__herbal: hay | straw grass | camomile
__sweet: figs | honey | raisins | candied apricot | candied quince
__other: petroleum | iris | apple leaf | dried pear | dried leafs
__wood: old / light roast

//Palate
sweetness: dry
acidity: med(+)
alcohol: med(+)
tannin: low
__grip: rough
balance: fair
__dominant: alcohol & acidity
body: austere | medium

//Taste
fruit profile: sweet fruits & stone fruits
fruit character: overripe & dried
non fruit: petroleum
finish: med(+)
aftertaste: seedy-crisp

//Scoring
BALLA GEZA | Stonewine | Furmint | 2017
variety: furmint
country: Romania
region: Minis
rating: 90.9

//Conclusion
maturity: past its prime | do not age
verdict: good | recommended
___________________________________________________________________________
This is definitely a good wine of Romania and with a total of 90.9 points scored, this wine is right there, among the best wines we’ve rated so far. Check our complete database on the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines that we have tasted and reviewed or go to the about us page and find out more about our exquisite rating system.

Verdict: this is a quite zesty and austere wine that is already past the peak of its prime form, good to be enjoyed today and not worth any further bottle ageing. The wine tastes green, seedy and angular, with a very crisp acidity some nuanced alcoholic warmth on tha mouthfeel. It has a slightly flabby palate, with some subtle hits of oxidation and a seedy-crisp, maybe even a bit green finale. On the nose the wine displays overripe and dried sweet fruits in the foreground, with some nuanced herbal and sweet flavours in the background. Overall this is a quite fair wine with a fruity-herbal profile that is very similar in style to riesling, especially with those pronounced petroleum notes in the foreground. It definitely lacks some balance and finesse on the palate, as it feels slightly rough, especially on the finish.

___________________________________________________________________________
© The WineStatistics ratings are based solely on our own knowledge of the world of wine and on our personal wine tastes, which may, or may not, differ from yours – the reader. Just remember that there are no absolutes of right and wrong in wine appreciation.