Sometimes one forgets how fortunate one is. Editor Daniel pointed out this bottle of dry Tokaji in Fortnum and Mason and asked if it was worth buying as he had never tried one. “You’ve never tried dry Tokaji!” I said with such incredulity he could have just said that ex-PM Gordon Brown was a really top geezer and certainly not a saturnine sourpuss of the dreariest kind. “No, David, but then I also didn’t try over 3,000 wines during one year at university.” It was a good point – as far as tasting experience goes I have been a really jammy fellow.

For those who finding it hard to glean information from this label I’ll explain. Furmint is the main grape variety used for making the more widely-known sweet Tokaji. Szent Tamas is a distinctly favoured plot of land for growing these grapes and Szepsy is a producer of reliable quality. Given that 2005 is a serious vintage in the region I felt the portents for pleasurable drinking were promising. So he dropped the sponds and we are about to share it with our good friends the neighbours.

Tokaji Furmint ‘Szent Tamas’ 2005, Szepsy

Pulling this straight from the fridge demonstrated the folly of drinking decent wine too cold, it was rather anonymous to start with. We let it warm up to a slight chill and dived in. There is a Grand Cru Chablis like density to this set of aromas, the pear fruit also seems a bit Chablis in character. It has a toasty set of smells but I think this is more due to the grape and vineyard character than any silliness with new wood. There is also a slight dusty hint that has suggestions of fungus which seems similar to aromas from the sweet version. The palate has great acidity and some mineral characters. Whilst this is not the world’s fruitiest palate there is enough pear fruit present. It is quite a large mouthful, but not super-long or super-complex. Good wine, though, but not ultimately top bunny. Daniel said, “I’m pleased to have tried it and will happily buy some should I find myself in Hungary; no more from Fortnum’s, I feel.”

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We did have a bottle of Semillon Late Harvest from Sandalyn Wilderness Estate but it was corked. Those composite corks are a bad sign, so easy to ruin your wine if you bottle it with them. So we had to pop this to finish the night.

Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos 2000, Disznoko

Quite a clean nose, not much oxidation. Even though this is not terribly typical you’ve got to love the fruit. It is really rich and apricotty. Ripe but not really that jammy. This smells pretty good. The palate is quite sweet, with subtle botrytis hints and really lovely fruit. Sweet fruit seems a unifying concept in this wine. I think we can agree that is not such a bad thing. I’ve enjoyed it, at the price you probably would too.

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This is another good bottle in a string of good bottles since the Pinot Noir By Farr; you have no idea how such events cheer me up. If I am honest, I am pretty unwell at the moment. I am about to change medication and this might be difficult for a while. And yet, a few good bottles in select company has provided me with an awfully large amount of jolly points; the wine has added to the experience of people obviously liking me over the past few days and, even though this can sometimes be difficult to deal with, it is really rather nice. Now, a serious sweet wine:

Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos “Betsek” 1999, Royal Tokaji Wine Company

Darker than golden syrup. A lovely nose of botrytic, candied apricots, with a pleasingly earthy character. This is a classy sweet wine. The palate is obviously silky and smooth, and even though it displays classic Tokaji oxidative tones it is still really fruity. As far as it is possible for these sort of wines to display vineyard character, this does. It is very long and bursting with complex fruit/mold/oxidative flavours, which delight and titillate for a pleasing length of time. There is a highly attractive character to this wine. It’ll last forever, but why bother? It is great fun now, and you can think about it too, which is never a bad thing.

That Shiraz By Farr was really good, as was the de Courcel. The Leflaive BBM was a transcendent experience. People open these things for me and I open them for them. Maybe I am not so bad. Maybe people are not wrong to like me. Even in the midst of psychosis there are oases of complete loveliness. I hope I can remain out of the bin and continue this hit-rate of great bottles over the next few weeks.

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Last night we had a dinner party. Quite a bit of wine was got through.

Riesling Spätlese Oberhäuser Brücke 2004, Helmut Dönnhoff

Lovely fruit, quite round and ripe for a 2004. Good balancing acidity made this a very nice drink.

Chardonnay Champagne 1996, Pol Roger

A charming nose of bread and ripe apples. It seemed fairly complex. The palate had plenty of ripe fruit and great acidity. It was extremely well balanced and very interesting.

Estate Marsanne 1995, Michelton

Very dark orange. The nose seemed a touch oxidised, but very botrytic. It had a bit of life on the palate, but it was quite oxidised. Better than expected.

Hermitage Blanc 1994, Jean Louis Grippat

Corked, curses!

Volnay Premier Cru Champans 2000, Domaine de Montille

Very pale in colour. The nose has beautiful, elegant fruit. Very charming. Perhaps it might have been a bit closed, the palate seemed a bit tough considering the copious amounts of fruit. It was very good, though.

Pommard Premier Cru Rugiens 2000, Domaine de Montille

Again a pale colour. The nose seemed a touch more open than the Volnay. The fruit was wonderful. It tasted a lot softer than the Volnay, it was really up for drinking. I greatly enjoyed both of these.

Châteauneuf du Papes 1998, Domaine de Clos Saint-Jean

A nose nose of surprisingly pure fruit. The fruit was very bright and not heavy. The palate was quite plummy and round with a bit of pepper character.

Messorio 2000, Le Macchiole

A 100% Merlot from Bolgheri in Tuscany, Italy. This is quite an expensive wine, shame it wasn’t really of a quality that matched the price. It was reasonably alright, with plenty of fruit, a bit of Italian bitterness, some length, but it didn’t really have the complexity to be a fine wine. There was also a hint of green-ness about some of the tannins. This made it really quite rigorous.

Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Oberhäuser Brücke 2004, Helmut Dönnhoff

A brilliant, balanced, bright wine full of life and loveliness. This had great sweetness, real style, complexity and length. Lovely.

Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos Szt. Tamas, Royal Tokaji Wine Company

This was surprisingly fresh and lively. It was very sweet with great length and complexity. I really enjoyed it.

Morey-Saint-Denis Premier Cru les Loups 1999, Domaine des Lambrays

What can I say? It is an old favourite. I always enjoy this wine. Now all gone, alas.

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Oremus are owned by Vega Sicilia, so by rights this wine should be so oxidised it would only taste of vinegar. Luckily, Vega have not moved their love of over-oxidised wines to Hungary.

Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos 1999, Oremus

A heady golden colour. The nose is very ripe and botrytic, but has no sign of oxidation. Amazing! It is largely clean and full of fruit. The palate is very rich and sweet, but the acidity seems in balance. Lots of peaches and cream/apricot jam richness. It is not terribly complex, but tastes lovely. The finish is superb, very long, sweet and fruity. This is a very good, well-balanced sweet wine.

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