I've enjoyed the last couple of Prager wines, so when I saw this in Fortnum's I thought it well worth a try.

Riesling Smaragd "Stenriegl" 2006, Prager
A highly perfumed nose of wonderful apricot and peach aromas. There is a strong earthiness to this wine, that grounds its more expressive, floral side. This is perfectly balanced. It tastes absoutely fantasic, with its floral, fruity flavours in perfect harmony with is dense, mineral weightiness. This is really lovely, lovely balance and style.

But this is quite appealing.

Meursault Premier Cru les Poruzots 2002, Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet
Huge density of flavour on the nose; ripe lemons and stoniness. There is also a lovely floral perfume to the nose. The aromas are very well defined and work together to create a complex whole. The obvious weight combined with subtle complexity on the nose might lead one into thinking this is a Grand Cru white Burgundy, I don't think that'd be such a bad guess. Again there is weight and density on the palate, but the good acidity and soily richness keep this lively and very expressive. The sum of the flavours on the palate creates a sumptuous totality which is quite lovely. The finish is wonderfully charming and lively, with great acidity, plenty of fruit and a good mineral tang. This is damned good white Burgundy, especially if you like them bien loche.

Roman Niewodnicszanski often makes top Riesing, this is no disappointment.

Riesling Scharzhofberger "Pergentsknopp" 2005, Van Volxem
A lovely nose of sweet citrus fruit with a lovely savoury character.There is a hint of celery to it which is oddly appealing. It doesn't smell particularly botrytised, but there is plenty of ripe fruit there. The alcohol seems in perfect harmony on the nose (claimed 12%). The palate has truly lovely bastard-loads of fruit, with great minerality and a thrilling edge of acidity. It is not overly sweet, and the fruit and minerality make this thrilling. This has an obvious high degree of complexity, but is going through a bit of a closed patch. I would wager this would be a lot better in five or more years time, but it has a thrilling, nervous, edgy life to it now. Lovely stuff, and it is a relative bargain.

OK, I admit that very few Sauvignon Blancs do it for me, but this is horrible beyond my powers of description. I'll give being rude a go, though.

Sauvignon Blanc "Selection 94" 2006, Dog Point Vineyard
The nose is completely confected and contrived, clearly made from over-ripe fruit that has been cold-fermented. It is not all that clean, either. Utterly disgusting filth would be a fair description of the nose; it revolts in so many ways. I've had two mouthfuls and that is enough. It is blowsy and distinctly sweet, with truly horrible rotting fruit flavours. It lacks any balance, harmony, or even any nice flavours that would make one want even sip this wine gingerly. This wine is a slur on the good name of wine. How could anyone make this and, even more incredibly, expect people to pay money and drink it? I have been drinking so well recently that this wine is personally offensive; the winemaker generated this filth specifically to revolt those who like nice wine and I bet the bastard was targetting me in particular. I am eternally grateful that I didn't pay for this, but my bad mood at having tried it will last until someone punches the winemaker on my behalf.

This was quite delicious with the chicken I roasted earlier.

Chablis Grand Cru Preuses 2000, Domaine William Fevre
A lovely nose of earthy complexity and plenty of nuttiness. There is some lovely lemon fruit there as well. I am quite surprised by the degree of maturity displayed on the nose; this smells very much up for drinking. There is real density and weight on the palate, but the great minerality and wonderful acidity keep this well-balanced. The fruit is quite delicious and the finish is very long and pleasing. I don't think there is much point in keeping this wine any longer, I am under the impression it has peaked and will not get any better. It is quite tasty, though.

Gewurztraminer is one of those grape varieties one either loves or loathes. This is a damned good example that is up for drinking now.

Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Altenbourg "Cuvee Laurence" 2002, Domaine Weinbach
This has a lovely nose of banana fruit and rich spiciness. There is some real earthy complexity here, which raises this wine above the normal Gewurztraminer simplicity. Even though the fruit is very ripe this is no booze-tastic horror; it is perfectly balanced. I love its mineral charm. On the palate the fruit reminds me very much of those foam banana sweets, a wine for those in touch with their youthful-side. The palate is surprisingly, and pleasingly, dry. OK, there is plenty of fruit and a hint of alcohol warmth, but these don't detract from what is a very pleasing palate. This is not a bottle of Zind-Humbrecht tart-fuel as so many people expect from Alsace Gewurzt. There is a real degree of complexity and style here. I admit I don't drink Gewurzt that often, it rarely provides as much pleasure as this,  but I am enjoying this wine greatly. I have simple needs, I am easily satisfied with the best, and this wine is satisfying me no end. I'd drink it within the next few years. The Weinbach ladies are lovely people (bien loché, if I am honest) and they make top bunny wines. Well worth looking out for any of their Grand Cru offerings.

We tried this at the London Wine Trade Fair last week and our case was delivered this morning. It is bursting with youthful charm.

Riesling Spatlese Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck "Old Vines" 2007, Leitz
This has a completely lovely nose of grapefruit and creamy minerality. There are hints of cucumber and mint there as well, which smell a lot more attractive than they sound. The nose is very complex and pleasing, with that wonderful 'puppy fat' character that young German Riesling often displays. The palate has lots of delicious citrus fruit and perfectly balanced acidity which makes this burst with youthful exuberance. The sweetness is very harmonious with the fruit and acid; this is a proper Spatlese not a de-classified Auslese as many of these wines tend to be from really top vintages. It is very long, with real old vines concentration of flavours and wonderful, wonderful complexity. OK, the Prum Spatlese from a few days ago may be a slightly more refined, elegant drink, but this is a superb example of Rheingau Riesling at a deeply reasonable price. It is not short on style or class, indeed it is quite delicious. Marks and Spencer tell us this wine should be drank within the next two years, and I think that is probably correct. Leitz wines are lovely when young but I have not had an older example that I think provides as much pleasure.

Madeira Boal Reserva 1968, D'Oliveiras: Excellent Madeira that is quite a lovely drink now. Read the note here. £58 from Waitrose Wine Direct.

Hermitage 2005, Domaine du Colombier: Affordable Hermitage and it is good, too. You just have to age it for it to show its best. £38.70 from Tanners.

Riesling Smaragd "Achleiten" 2005, Weingut Prager: One of the best dry Rieslings I've had in, oh, a period of time. The note is here. £28.50 from Waitrose Wine Direct.

Riesling Spatlese Rudensheimer Berg Roseneck "Old Vines" 2007, Leitz: I tried this at wine London Wine Trade Fair; it was an excellent, characterful, delicious wine. Well worth the money. £16.20 from Marks and Spencer.

Riesling Spatlese Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg 1999: A lovely wine from the Ruwer, bursting with life and, let us be honest, acidity. This a a great, refreshing drink that would be perfect to drink over the summer. £12.50 from the Wine Society.

Insomnia is plaguing both the partner and myself. He suggested the following guest article.

10	The Rolling Stones "Paint it black"
9	Tom Waits "The piano has been drinking (not me)"
8	Lemon Jelly "'79 (aka. the shouty track)"
7	Noël Coward "There are bad times just around the corner"
6	Divine Comedy "Death of a supernaturalist"
5	The Smiths "There is a light"
4	Pink Floyd "Nobody home"
3	KTU "Absinthe"
2	Morrissey "How could anybody possible know how I feel"
1	Divine Comedy "Through a long and sleepless night"

I love Cote-Rotie and Clusel-Roch make properly beautiful wines. Considering this comes from a really ripe vintage it is completely harmonious and deeply charming. It may be a tad over its claimed 12% alcohol, but such is the classy fruit and refined minerality that you will not be harassed by any awfulness.

Cote-Rotie "Classique" 2005, Domaine Clusel-Roch
Quite dark in colour. The nose has plenty of fruit which, whilst largely dark and ripe, is very elegant and refined. There is some great earthy complexity on that palate. Some people have said they find 2005 Rhone wines to be too tough and hard work, but there is no hint of that on this wine. The palate does have some big tannins, but they are ripe and give this wine great structure and personality. The length and complexity of the finish are quite delicious. If this wine is so good I can only imagine how the Grand Places (Clusel-Roch's prestige cuvée) would be. It does need a few more years to be showing at its best, but I feel it'll be well worth the wait.

OK, I know one should really age these things, but when they are young, bursting with fruit and that lovely young 'puppy fat' charm it is hard to refuse. 2006 was yet another great vintage in Germany and shouting Manfred Prum is a freaking genius.

Riesling Spatlese Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2006, Joh Jos Prum
This smells beguilingly beautiful. Lovely citrus fruit, great slaty minerality and nowhere near as much sulphur as I would have expected. The aromas are subtle and refined with great complexity that is terribly pleasing. Now if the nose is beautiful then the palate is nec ultra plus. The fruit is ripe and flavoursome, it has truly great acidity which sits in perfect harmony with the fruit and sweetness, and the minerality charms the socks off you.  This is an ultimately beautiful palate which is utterly harmonious and balanced. The sweetness, acidity and minerality make my mouth water with each sip I take, but such are the concentration of flavours  even my drooling does not dilute the experience. The finish is superb: long, elegant and tasty. There is so much to love about this wine and, even though there doesn't seem to be that much sulphur, I feel this will be providing obscene amounts of pleasure for a couple of decades. If you want to try it at this charming level of youthful style pop a bottle within the six to eight months; this will close up for its middle-aged period reasonably soon. Shouting Manfred has delivered the goods once again. With its obvious class and with such a long and pleasing future ahead of it twenty-one fun tokens* is a real bargain.

*That is £21, for those unaware of the usage of the term 'fun tokens'.

I love Madeira; all of those weird, rancid and off flavours that combine to make a lovely, complete booze experience are a joy. This is a particularly tits bottle.

Madeira Boal Reserva 1968, d'Oliveiras
Quite dark orange, with the weird green rim you only seem to find on Madeira. The nose bursts with brazil and hazelnut tones, with a wonderful toffee apple fruit. This is throbbing with life and it clearly signed an agreement saying it would strive only to provide a lot of pleasure. If I have been unclear allow me to re-iterate: this smells freaking ace. The palate also bursts with life, it has good baked fruit and truly marvellous (and, if I may go on about this, slightly painful) acidity. As with all good bottles of Madeira, how this tastes may not thrill the unenlightened. But I am well aware that both my readers of this site are not only enlightened but in fact serene. This will tickle your imagination, thrill your nose and tantalise your tongue. Madeira is a sadly neglected drink these days, and has been so for too long. When I used to invite good looking students to my room to mark their essays, issue them with papers and generally be a supportive kind of tutor they always seemed scandalised when I offered them a glass of Madeira. Bad thing when social conditioning makes one reject good things simply because Dame Fashion says you must avoid without giving any convincing reason. Surely it is better to be right than fashionable? Madeira was one of the first wines I purchased with my own cash, but even at that tender age I knew about the objective nature of reality and how I was in touch with it. This is excellent.

This is clearly a glass of class.

Riesling Smaragd "Achleiten" 2005, Weingut Prager
A very pure nose of lemon fruit and stony minerality; this smells subtle and beautiful. The fruit is perfectly ripe and just lovely. Serious complexity here. Oddly for an Austrian wine this doesn't smell of white pepper; I'd be hard pressed to tell this was Austrian if I was presented it blind. The complexity of the concentrated aromas make you well aware you are about to have a taste of something with serious class. There is density and an incredible depth of flavour to the palate, but it is kept bursting with fizzing life by its great acidity and brilliant minerality. It is very long. I suppose this will age very well, but if I had another bottle I'd pop it within the next six months; it is just gorgeous now. Both intellectually rewarding and full of an almost lewd amount of visceral pleasure.

Gone are the days when one could get a good Engel Grand Cru in Selfridge's for £34 a bottle. Luckily, we stocked up.

Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru 1999, Rene Engel
A lovely nose of dense, exotic, expressive fruit that really charms my tired nose. This smells superb. There is plenty of fruit, plenty of minerality and this is framed by the most subtle of oak treatments one could wish for. Serious complexity here. The palate is smooth and silky, with real Grand Cru definition of flavour and complexity. The fruit is utterly lovely. This is seriously stylish but, if I am honest, this is too young to be drinking this wine. There is clearly bucket loads more complexity to come from this wine over the next 10-15 years (if your cellar is up to the challenge). I've had plenty of evidence that Rene Engel wines are completely lovely, and this just adds weight to that case. It is a shame I never got to meet him I love his wines so; when I faxed to make an appointment I got a reply saying he had died brutally on his yacht in Tahiti. Seems a bit of a drastic step to avoid presenting one's wines to an enthusiastic audience...

This is a really good NV fizz, like the Cuvee 728 I feel this will age over a period of time.

Champagne Cuvee 732, Jacquesson
A really lovely bready, biscuitty nose. It has both fresh fruit and maturity. There is some real complexity showing here. The palate has a beguiling array of flavours: fruit, mushrooms, fresh bread, minerality; this is all just lovely. It is very long and has a really nice mousse. This is a top bunny bottle of NV fizz, and it doesn't cost that much either.