Szent Tamás Furmint – Szent Benedek Pincészet
Szent Benedek Winery, named for the patron saint of Europe, was founded in 2002 in the village of Tallya. They have six hectares of vines on soil with very high volcanic mineral content. Szent Benedek’s winemaker, József Ádám, works magic with these grapes, starting with the extremely limited yields in the vineyard which lend a concentration of flavors and texture to his wines. Ádám works quietly in a spectacular fairytale-like cellar beneath a 200 year-old house. Despite his extraordinary wines, he somehow flies under the radar, hiding his wines behind unassuming labels. At our Budapest shop, where we’ve been selling Szent Benedek wines for many years, we offer these wines as examples of what great aged dry Tokaj wine can aspire to be. The cellar is an elemental part of Ádám’s winemaking. His wines are precise and serious, and he believes in giving them the time to develop to their fullest potential, with long aging periods in barrels (mostly used oak), followed by long periods of bottle resting. This is a single vineyard 100 percent Furmint, with all of the grapes coming from the historic grand cru Szent Tamás vineyard. One of Tokaj’s most prized vineyards, Szent Tamás is mostly dusty iron-rich red rocks, and red soil with piles of rocks everywhere. Grapes were harvested by hand on September 21st and were fermented and aged in large oak barrels, mostly on the lees, for 17 months. This is a real terroir-driven wine, which perfectly reflects the St. Tamás vineyard. The nose is flinty, salty, herbal (dried tarragon and mint) and full of Tokaj’s volcanic minerality. On the palate, this is a very dry wine which is all about the minerality (with some peach and pear flavors in the background). This full-bodied wine is full of rich flavors, has a creamy texture, a strong (but controlled) acidity, and some oakiness (which comes through as green walnut flavor). Once you open this bottle, the wine changes quickly and evolves in the glass. The finish is long and lingering, and is all about mineral and salt. This is a very special wine, worthy to take center stage of your evening. Serve it with foods that will enhance it while not overpowering it. A cheese and charcuterie board with nuts, olives, and dried fruits is ideal. Only 994 bottles made.
8,654 Ft
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In stock
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*Prices shown include Hungarian VAT (27%). Final prices are calculated based on the VAT of your shipping country.
In 1700 Tokaj developed one of the world’s earliest vineyard classification systems, and Tokaj is most famous for being the birthplace of Tokaji Aszú—one of the world’s oldest sweet wines.
Located in northeastern Hungary—which historically has been the crossroads of Central Europe—the region is framed by natural borders: the town of Tokaj in the southwest corner where the Bodrog and the Tisza rivers meet, the Bodrog river to the southeast, and the Zemplén hills to the northwest. The Tokaj region has 5,500 hectares of vineyards and 27 towns and villages. Wines from the different vineyards can all be quite different, and winemakers here love to experiment with single vineyard wines.
On top of its long and fascinating history, the Tokaj region has so much for wine-lover’s to discover. It is rich in a variety of volcanic soils; has a microclimate ideal for bringing on noble rot (botrytis); grows some really interesting indigenous grape varieties; and has a truly enchanting subterranean labyrinth of mould-covered cellars where the wines age. Though Tokaj is best known for its sweet Aszú wines, which are made from botrytized grapes, more than half of the wine it produces is dry.
Six official grape varieties grow in Tokaj. The superstars are the indigenous varieties Furmint and Hárslevelű, with Furmint being the high profile grape that tends to steal the show. Other varieties grown in smaller quantities are Sárga Muskotály, Kövérszölö, Zéta (a crossing of Furmint and Bouvier), and Kabar (a crossing of Hárslevelű and Bouvier). All of these wines are being increasingly made in dry styles, which winemakers are embracing because they are more marketable.
But it’s the sweet wines which make the region so unlike any other. They rely on the development of botrytis, which comes with the right weather conditions. The harvest here is a long, labor-intensive process which starts with the dry wine harvests, and continues with the harvesting of the botrytized grapes, which is done by hand.
In addition to Aszú (which is made with botryized grapes which are selectively harvested by hand, one berry at a time), other styles include late harvest wines, sweet and dry versions of Szamorodni (made with whole clusters of grapes containing a mixture of both botrytized and healthy grapes), Forditás (made from the second pressing after Aszú is made), Máslás (made from the second pressing after Aszú is made), and Eszencia (made from the free-run juice of Aszú berries, so thick and concentrated that it only reaches about four percent alcohol).
Szent Benedek’s winemaker, József Ádam, aims to show the diverse volcanic soils of the vineyards around the top Tokaj towns of Tállya and Mád. T
his small family-owned winery is located in a 17th century villa in the village of Tállya, with an enchanting old mould-covered cellar. Ádam is a winemaker with passionate ideas about his work, and what a Tokaj wine should be. He believes blending dry wines from different vineyards is the key to real Tokaj-style dry wines, comparing blending to being ‘like mixing spices in cooking’. Then he likes to age them to perfection, for much longer than most wineries in the region do today.
| Country | 1-3 bottles |
4-6 bottles |
7-12 bottles |
13-15 bottles |
16-18 bottles |
19-24 bottles |
25-27 bottles |
28-30 bottles |
31-36 bottles |
37 or more bottles |
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| Austria | 7,800 Ft | 8,300 Ft | 9,500 Ft | 17,300 Ft | 17,800 Ft | 19,000 Ft | 26,800 Ft | 27,300 Ft | 35,600 Ft | 28,500 Ft |
| Belgium | 10,200 Ft | 10,500 Ft | 12,200 Ft | 22,400 Ft | 22,700 Ft | 24,400 Ft | 34,600 Ft | 34,900 Ft | 45,400 Ft | 36,600 Ft |
| Bulgaria | 13,800 Ft | 14,500 Ft | 15,900 Ft | 29,700 Ft | 30,400 Ft | 31,800 Ft | 45,600 Ft | 46,300 Ft | 60,800 Ft | 47,700 Ft |
| Croatia | 10,200 Ft | 10,500 Ft | 12,200 Ft | 22,400 Ft | 22,700 Ft | 24,400 Ft | 34,600 Ft | 34,900 Ft | 45,400 Ft | 36,600 Ft |
| Czech Republic | 7,800 Ft | 8,300 Ft | 9,500 Ft | 17,300 Ft | 17,800 Ft | 19,000 Ft | 26,800 Ft | 27,300 Ft | 35,600 Ft | 28,500 Ft |
| Denmark | 13,800 Ft | 14,500 Ft | 15,900 Ft | 29,700 Ft | 30,400 Ft | 31,800 Ft | 45,600 Ft | 46,300 Ft | 60,800 Ft | 47,700 Ft |
| Estonia | 13,800 Ft | 14,500 Ft | 15,900 Ft | 29,700 Ft | 30,400 Ft | 31,800 Ft | 45,600 Ft | 46,300 Ft | 60,800 Ft | 47,700 Ft |
| Finland | 19,900 Ft | 21,200 Ft | 23,800 Ft | 43,700 Ft | 45,000 Ft | 47,600 Ft | 67,500 Ft | 68,800 Ft | 90,000 Ft | 71,400 Ft |
| France | 13,800 Ft | 14,500 Ft | 15,900 Ft | 29,700 Ft | 30,400 Ft | 31,800 Ft | 45,600 Ft | 46,300 Ft | 60,800 Ft | 47,700 Ft |
| Germany | 7,800 Ft | 8,300 Ft | 9,500 Ft | 17,300 Ft | 17,800 Ft | 19,000 Ft | 26,800 Ft | 27,300 Ft | 35,600 Ft | 28,500 Ft |
| Greece (mainland) |
19,900 Ft | 21,200 Ft | 23,800 Ft | 43,700 Ft | 45,000 Ft | 47,600 Ft | 67,500 Ft | 68,800 Ft | 90,000 Ft | 71,400 Ft |
| Hungary (outside of Budapest) |
4,000 Ft | 4,000 Ft | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Hungary (Budapest) |
4,000 Ft (free for orders over 20,000 Ft) |
4,000 Ft (free for orders over 20,000 Ft) |
4,000 Ft (free for orders over 20,000 Ft) |
Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Ireland | 13,800 Ft | 14,500 Ft | 15,900 Ft | 29,700 Ft | 30,400 Ft | 31,800 Ft | 45,600 Ft | 46,300 Ft | 60,800 Ft | 47,700 Ft |
| Italy | 13,800 Ft | 14,500 Ft | 15,900 Ft | 29,700 Ft | 30,400 Ft | 31,800 Ft | 45,600 Ft | 46,300 Ft | 60,800 Ft | 47,700 Ft |
| Latvia | 13,800 Ft | 14,500 Ft | 15,900 Ft | 29,700 Ft | 30,400 Ft | 31,800 Ft | 45,600 Ft | 46,300 Ft | 60,800 Ft | 47,700 Ft |
| Lithuania | 13,800 Ft | 14,500 Ft | 15,900 Ft | 29,700 Ft | 30,400 Ft | 31,800 Ft | 45,600 Ft | 46,300 Ft | 60,800 Ft | 47,700 Ft |
| Luxembourg | 13,800 Ft | 14,500 Ft | 15,900 Ft | 29,700 Ft | 30,400 Ft | 31,800 Ft | 45,600 Ft | 46,300 Ft | 60,800 Ft | 47,700 Ft |
| Netherlands | 10,200 Ft | 10,500 Ft | 12,200 Ft | 22,400 Ft | 22,700 Ft | 24,400 Ft | 34,600 Ft | 34,900 Ft | 45,400 Ft | 36,600 Ft |
| Poland | 7,800 Ft | 8,300 Ft | 9,500 Ft | 17,300 Ft | 17,800 Ft | 19,000 Ft | 26,800 Ft | 27,300 Ft | 35,600 Ft | 28,500 Ft |
| Portugal | 19,900 Ft | 21,200 Ft | 23,800 Ft | 43,700 Ft | 45,000 Ft | 47,600 Ft | 67,500 Ft | 68,800 Ft | 90,000 Ft | 71,400 Ft |
| Romania | 10,200 Ft | 10,500 Ft | 12,200 Ft | 22,400 Ft | 22,700 Ft | 24,400 Ft | 34,600 Ft | 34,900 Ft | 45,400 Ft | 36,600 Ft |
| Slovakia | 7,800 Ft | 8,300 Ft | 9,500 Ft | 17,300 Ft | 17,800 Ft | 19,000 Ft | 26,800 Ft | 27,300 Ft | 35,600 Ft | 28,500 Ft |
| Slovenia | 10,200 Ft | 10,500 Ft | 12,200 Ft | 22,400 Ft | 22,700 Ft | 24,400 Ft | 34,600 Ft | 34,900 Ft | 45,400 Ft | 36,600 Ft |
| Spain | 19,900 Ft | 21,200 Ft | 23,800 Ft | 43,700 Ft | 45,000 Ft | 47,600 Ft | 67,500 Ft | 68,800 Ft | 90,000 Ft | 71,400 Ft |
| Sweden | 13,800 Ft | 14,500 Ft | 15,900 Ft | 29,700 Ft | 30,400 Ft | 31,800 Ft | 45,600 Ft | 46,300 Ft | 60,800 Ft | 47,700 Ft |
| UK | See instructions |
