Szamorodni is the wine hiding in the wings in Tokaj. The name is Polish for "as it was born", and it describes the method: rather than picking botrytised berries out individually as you would for Aszú, whole bunches are taken as they come, shrivelled and healthy fruit together, and fermented as one.

Fermented to dryness and then left in barrel under a native yeast veil — flor, the same phenomenon that makes fino sherry — it becomes something almost no other region produces. Nutty, saline, oxidative and profoundly savoury, with the volcanic acidity of Tokaj underneath holding it all upright.

Judit and József Bodó set a high bar for what qualifies: more than half the berries in a given bunch must be botrytised. Their farming across eight hectares in Tokaj is organic and low-yielding, around 1.5 kilograms per vine, with indigenous-yeast fermentation and no enzymes.

This comes in a 500ml bottle, the traditional format for the style. Serve it properly chilled and treat it as you would a good fino — it wants salt and fat, not dessert.

Drink it with: salted almonds, jamón and cured meat, aged sheep's cheese, smoked fish, olives, or mushrooms on toast.

Details

• Producer: Bott Pince
• Region: Tokaj, Hungary
• Grapes: Furmint, Hárslevelű
• Vintage: 2020
• Bottle size: 500ml