Oremus Dry Petracs 2021

The Petrács vineyard lies in the historic Tokaj area of north-eastern Hungary, on the volcanic slopes farmed by the Oremus estate. This region, a World Heritage Site, enjoys a continental climate influenced by the Bodrog and Tisza rivers. The vines are rooted in complex soils of volcanic origin, made up notably of rhyolite, clay and zeolite. The exposure of the plots and the cool nights encourage slow ripening of the grapes. This terroir gives Furmint a taut, saline and deeply mineral expression, typical of Tokaj's great dry whites.

The grapes from the Petrács vineyard are harvested by hand. After pressing, the must ferments in new Hungarian oak barrels, where the wine also continues its ageing.

This wine reveals notes of lemon, grapefruit and yellow apple, joined by floral hints of white flowers. Accents of white peach, almond and light honey enrich the bouquet, while a backbone of wet stone and salt recalls its volcanic origin. The palate is straight and energetic, carried by lively acidity and a broad yet precise texture. The long, saline finish retains a lemony freshness and an elegant mineral tension.

It was the Romans who planted the first vines, at a time when the country was part of a region called Pannonia. At the dawn of the 18th century, Hungary, then united with Austria, exported its most famous wine throughout Europe: Tokaj (made from the Furmint grape). As everywhere in Europe, viticulture was devastated by phylloxera in the 19th century. During the communist era, vineyards were run as cooperatives, which guaranteed winegrowers a stable income. Quite a few small growers could not keep pace with this expanding economy, and so the Hungarian vineyard was restructured, losing 30% of its area in the process. Today many family estates have made their name, some of them producing wines of incredible quality. As everywhere in Europe, viticulture is in decline under the European restructuring plan for the wine industry. Hungary, which lies on the same latitude as Burgundy, has a continental climate with hot summers and cold winters. Rainfall is sufficient for non-irrigated viticulture, and the soils are varied and of high quality depending on the region. With around a hundred native and international grape varieties, the country enjoys good varietal diversity. Furmint and hárslevelű from the Tokaj region, vinified dry and the source of the great sweet wines of Tokaj, are undoubtedly the best-known varieties today. The most widely planted grape is olaszrizling for whites and kékfrankos for reds. International varieties, mainly the Bordeaux grapes, flourish especially in the south of the country, where they produce wines of great class.