Superb Tokay from one of the best, modern-style producers in this most traditional of sweet wine regions. This is still a very young wine, even at six years old, with the acidity you expect from Furmint. It’s bitingly fresh, but the appley tartness is balanced by pear and honeyed sweetness, with hints of white flowers and remarkable concentration and length. One to buy now and hold on to for a decade.
Food Match: Cheese
2009 Lions de Suduiraut, Sauternes, Bordeaux
( £15, 14%, Averys, Berry Bros & Rudd )That’s £15 per half by the way, just in case you were amazed by the bargain on offer here. Still, it’s a lovely Sauternes, made by a property that made some of the best sweet wines in Bordeaux in 2009. This is honeyed and intense, but with less concentration than the same château’s grown up wine. Sweet vanilla pod and crème brûlée notes combine with a citrus lift on the palate. Classy stuff.
2010 Montes Alpha, Merlot, Apalta Vineyard, Colchagua Valley
( £12.99, 14.5%, Majestic )Montes is a winery that has mastered the art of delivering flavour and some complexity at affordable prices, as typified by this ripe, deeply-coloured Merlot from the Colchagua Valley. This has some classic Chilean mint, with attractive plum and black cherry flavours, mid-weight tannins and sweet, assertive oak.
2012 Stoneburn Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
( £7.25, 13%, The Wine Society )This is a little sweet and commercial, but it’s a lot less so than many Kiwi Sauvignons at the price. It’s bright and well crafted with classic goosberry fool and tropical fruit exuberance and mouthwatering acidity.
2010 Mazzei, Fonterutoli, Chianti Classico, Tuscany
( £16.75, 13.5%, Great Western Wine )When it’s good – and 2010 is a very classy vintage in Tuscany – Chianti Classico can still deliver a lot of flavour and complexity for less than £20. That’s certainly the case here, because I can’t remember a better basic wine from this estate. Its texture is almost Pinot Noir-like, but with a nip of tannin to add some extra backbone. On the palate, it’s silky and sweet with subtle oak and notes of dried tea, raspberry and wild strawberry. Essence of Sangiovese.
2010 Porta Velha, Valle Pradinhos, Trás-os-Montes
( £7.50, 13%, The Wine Society )If you’re looking for a glass of something unusual, yet also uncomplicated, this is for you. It’s a gloriously juicy Portuguese red with bright bramble and raspberry flavours, a smidgeon of tannin and enough acidity to slice its way through lamb or pork. Great value.
2009 Vinoterra Saperavi, Kakheti
( €15.90, 13%, Geovino )Trademark Saperavi produced by Gogi Dakishvili at Schuchmann Wines – Saperavi is perhaps the most important indigenous red grape variety in Georgia today. Peppery, raspberry and prune fruit with an attractive balsamic note. Spicy, tannic but well balanced. Feels effortless.
2011 Vinoterra Rkatsiteli, Kakheti
( €11.90, 12.5%, Geovino )A very accessible qvevri wine, with melon, honey and floral aromas giving way to spicy but restrained tannins and apricot kernel. A great introduction to Rkatsiteli and the qvevri style.
2011 Vinoterra Kisi, Kakheti
( €11.90, 12.5%, Geovino )Too young at the moment – winemaker Gogi says wait two years, but there’s a bright future for this complex, structured amber wine. The nose has everything from cooked plums, to toffee and caramel. Generous stone fruit and quite full bodied.
2010 Alaverdi Monastery Kisi, Kakheti
( POA, 13%, Les Caves de Pyrene )Alaverdi’s Kisi spends 6 months in the Qvevri, the skins and stalks lending it its deep amber colour, with fine-grained but persistent tannins. The aromas are intensely herbal, almost medicinal with hints of caramel and musk. Quite full bodied, with peachy, cooked stone fruit dominating the palate. Hugely complex, but needs food to show at its best.
2011 Alaverdi Monastery Saperavi, Kakheti
( POA, 13%, Les Caves de Pyrene )Alaverdi only produce around 20,000 bottles a year, and they had already run out of the 2010 vintage when we visited in November 2012. This 2011 Qvevri sample needs another year for the rather brutal tannins to resolve, but the purity and focus of the dark, berry fruit is evident. There’s some attractive ginger spiciness, terrific freshness and what Charles Metcalfe describes very aptly as a “balsamic hint”.
2010 Alaverdi Monastery Rkatsiteli, Kakheti
( POA, 13%, Les Caves de Pyrene )This is the wine that first won me over to the charms of the qvevri – the most astoundingly complex nose of tea leaves, baked apples, jasmine, herbs and plum compote (and bear in mind my description does not remotely do it justice). Very much an amber/orange style, with chewy but perfectly ripe tannins – and yet the fruit shines through effortlessly. Outstanding.