Juhfark is one of the most local grapes in Europe. The name means "sheep's tail", after the curved shape of its bunches, and outside Somló it is barely planted at all. On this one volcanic hill it is the signature variety, and it produces a white of unusual severity and length.

The wine carries apple, almond, white pepper and tangerine, but the defining character is mineral — smoky, stony and saline, straight out of the basalt. Somló wine was historically drunk for its supposed medicinal properties, and Habsburg tradition held that it produced male heirs; the folklore is silly, the intensity that generated it is not.

Tamás Kis founded Somlói Vándor after working in Eger. The name means "the Somló wanderer". He farms organically, ferments on native yeasts, and ages in used French and Hungarian oak — wood for texture, not for flavour.

This is not a wine for sipping on its own in the sun. It is high in acid, firmly mineral and slightly austere young, and it needs food or a few years in bottle to open out.

Drink it with: roast goose, pork belly, dumplings, schnitzel, strong hard cheese, or rich fish dishes.

Details

• Producer: Somlói Vándor
• Region: Somló, Hungary
• Grapes: Juhfark
• Vintage: 2024
• Bottle size: 750ml