Juhfark??!!  Don’t look at me! … Okay English speakers have a lot of fun with the name of this varietal, but all jokes aside as this is a truly amazing aromatic, smoky, full body dry white wine that's just delicious!

Pronounced "ewe - fark" in Hungarian it translates to “sheep’s tail.” The term refers to the elongated, cylindrical shape of the vine clusters. It's indigenous to Hungary and possibly exclusive to Hungary.  So far, I haven’t found it planted in any other country. It is most prominently grown in the Somló wine region, Hungary’s smallest, about 3 hours west of Budapest.

Somló hill is an extinct volcano and the volcanic soils produce wines with a high mineral content. As you approach Somló, in the distance you will see a rounded extinct volcano with the ruins of an 11th century castle on top with vineyards terraced along its sides and spreading across the base, dotted with small adobe and brick houses and crushing rooms.  Some of the homes and crush houses are as old as 500 hundred years.  It’s a tiny area with small dirt roads between the vineyards, where many folks use GPS coordinates instead of addresses … really.  One must call ahead to taste in this area and the wine experience encompasses the adventure of trying to find the correct winery as well as tasting and enjoying their marvelous nectar.

I searched for other importers of this varietal in the U.S., but didn’t have any luck.  There are several in Europe.  The Juhfark we import was later selected to represent Hungary in the 2010 Hong Kong and London Fairs.  Lajos Oszvald is the winemaker.  He is relatively new to the wine industry in the past 20 years, but has brought state of the art equipment and a most meticulous approach throughout the entire process… from growing to harvest to bottling.

A most intriguing wine.  It is a medium to full body dry white wine with an intense yellow color with an aromatic nose of melon, citrus fruit, dried herbs with a lingering smokiness. True to the palate, it is clean with Meyers lemon, hints of baked ham, dried herbs, followed by a touch of vanilla and smoky finish. Higher acidity increases the complexity and offers a well balanced wine.  Also, an age worthy white wine.  We enjoy it with prosciutto, aged cheeses, Provencal herb roasted chicken and sea bass.  Really awesome with sea bass.  A fun varietal and you’ll probably be the only one among your wine friends … or any friend to have experienced a Juhfark!  Enjoy!

Katy Bendel, Founder of CarpathianWines.com, is located in San Diego, CA.
They import, distribute and sell online extraordinary boutique wines that they have personally hand selected.