11 January 2018 David Williams, the Guardian wine expert, explains how vignerons the world over are making the best use of grape varieties they already grow.



Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Hungarian Dry Furmint, Tokaj, Hungary 2016 (£10) Even in the slow-moving world of wine there is room for the unexpected. Certainly, the emergence of central European grape furmint as a supermarket staple over the past couple of years caught this correspondent by surprise. For years it had been hiding in plain sight, as the main ingredient of Hungary’s most famous wine, the luxurious liquid-gold of tangy-sweet tokaji. But with dessert wines, sadly an increasingly minority pursuit, producers have been showcasing furmint’s abilities as a dry white. The Royal Tokaji Company is one such firm, and the wine it makes for Sainsbury’s is a characteristic combination of electric acidity, plump, mouthfilling fruit and wild herbiness.

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Hungarian Dry Furmint, Tokaj, Hungary 2016 (£10)

Click here to buy Royal Tokaji’s Dry Furmint 2016 online from Sainsburys