MA'D Moser, Hungary

... and in 2022, the vision became reality with the collaboration between Lenz Moser, Rita Takaro, Karoly Kovas, the owner of the famed Mad Wines in Hungary and winemaker Gabor Urban, to re-invent dry Furmint from Tokaj under the Mád Moser project. Their goal is to bring an exciting new interpretation of dry Furmint from one of the great, yet forgotten wine regions to the world’s attention. Their wines represent freshness, great complexity, and structure with unique individual character. Tokaj’s importance dates back to the early 16th Century, when it became a symbol of distinction amongst the upper classes and aristocracy in Europe. It was a luxury wine, associated with nobility but communism put an end to this. With its collapse in Hungary in 1989 local enthusiasm, a focus on quality focus, and plenty of foreign investment took hold in the Tokaj region, led by the likes of Vega Sicilia and Hugh Johnson, to restore its wines to their former glory – and to even vinify it to new heights! But today we look to a new era, led by Mád Moser to bring this ‘new’ grape to the world stage, and create a new attitude and category to the wine drinker … igniting the spark, creating the buzz and permitting the quality of dry Furmint to have its own momentum.

Viticulture

Focusing on the rediscovery of long-forgotten vineyards in a microclimate defined by the low-nutrient volcanic soils of the South- Zemplén Mountains, and the influence of the Tisza and Bodrog rivers, which provide favourable conditions for the development of Botrytis cinerea (noble rot) and its subsequent assimilation into the regions famous sweet wines. But now Tokaj in particular is building a strong reputation for incredible dry, age-worthy wines from Furmint, a style with barely two decades of history, yet the potential for greatness is undoubted.

Winemaking

Both wines were destemmed, with the MM5 fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks, while the MM55 is fermented and aged for 8 months in 300 L Hungarian oak barrel (70% new oak) to give two different expressions of dry Furmint.