Szamorodni

One of the great winemaking regions of the world is Tokaj. First mentioned in the fifteenth century, the wines are made in north-east Hungary near the Slovakian border. The area was the first to create rules to oversee the production of its wines, including on the use of manure. The most famous wines are sweet, but as I wrote in a blog late last year, there is considerable variety to the wines, with some extremely good dry wines being made from Tokaj's most important grape, Furmint.

Over the centuries, many different styles have emerged, from bone dry to the syrupy sweet Eszencia - at up to 600g/L of residual sugar, it was used as a medicinal in the nineteenth century. While I was studying for my Diploma Unit 3 exam, I became interested in one of the styles called Szamorodni, because it's aged under a film of yeast like a fino. I tracked down a bottle, but, as there was no chance of it being in my Diploma tasting exam, I only just got round to drinking it.

Szamorodni

The grapes used for sweet Tokaji are dried, shrunken, and often botrytised, carefully picked very late in the harvest (historically, on the third hoeing). In contrast, grapes for Szamorodni are not specifically selected, instead being a mixture of healthy, shrivelled, and botrytised berries. Very popular in Poland in the early 1800s, Szamarodni means "as it comes off the vine" in Polish.   

Szamorodni can be made in both a dry (száraz in Hungarian) and a slightly sweet (édes) style. Although it has the same name, the dry style is quite different from the sweet. Dry Szamorodni is aged in cellars covered with a mould called Claspodorium cellare; it also has a layer of yeasts, which are native to the area, on top of it, protecting it from oxygen and other bacteria. Over the ageing period, alcohol evaporates from the wine without any water loss, meaning that the wine loses half a percent of alcohol. Unlike a fino, there is no fortification, although alcohol is naturally high (at around 14%) due to the sugar content in the shrivelled and botrytised grapes.

Samuel Tinon Szamorodni Száraz 2007 ($45.99; 500ml)

Samuel Tinon is a Frenchman who travelled all around the world - including Jerez and Jura, where similar wines to Szamorodni are made - before settling in Tokaj. The wine was aged on its lees for six months, before spending five years in small oak barrels. It's best served at cellar temperature, so refrigerate for 20-30 minutes before serving.

The oxidative nature of the wine could be smelt as soon as I opened the bottle: potent, nutty, and, for want of a better word, sherry-like. A light amber colour, on the palate it was richly textured, more like an amontillado than a fino, with baked apple and crème brûlée flavours. In fact, as the wine opened up, the aromas made me think of a just-developing palo cortado. The Furmint and Hárslevelű grapes also provide naturally nutty and spicy aromas, such as marzipan, all-spice, and paprika. A quite extraordinary wine: reminiscent of different styles of sherry, but with higher acidity and more aromatics from the grapes. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

with cheese

I tasted the Szamorodni with three different cheeses - manchego (thinking of the sherry connection), gouda, and English cheddar. I thought the rich, nutty texture of the wine would complement the manchego particularly well, but it may be that the two were both too dry together. Instead, it was the English cheddar - quite a simple one bought in a supermarket - that worked wonderfully with the wine: the crumbly creaminess of the cheese softened the nutty, oxidative wine while also soaking up the rich, creamy flavours.  

This Szamorodni was a complex, engaging wine that makes me want to seek out other examples. Despite being drawn to it by its similarities with fino, it was nevertheless something very individual. Aged in small oak barrels in mouldy cellars from grapes grown on volcanic soils, it was different both from the famous sweet wines of Tokaj and the classic wines of sherry. Expensive, unusual, and great with cheddar: my kind of wine.