Here are five wines that have caught my eye over the past month.

Champagne Avize Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 1996, Jacquesson: A 1996 Champagne that is still available, and it is a good one too. This is a tightly wound ball of intensity to drink now, and will age really well. £42.50 from Stone, Vine and Sun.

Morey-Saint-Denis "Clos Solon" 2001, Domaine Fourrier: A refined and elegant Burgundy to drink with a lot of pleasure. £19.00 from The Wine Society.

Quarts de Chaume 2004, Chateau Pierre-Bise: This is a touch less insanely sweet than most Pierre-Bise vintages; this gives it good balance and actually makes it possible to drink and enjoy. It is a damned-good, intense Quarts. £17.50 from Stone, Vine and Sun.

Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, Tim Adams: Bargain wine for an Ayrton, it displays a degree of balance and refinement that most Australian Cabernets' lack. £9.95 from The Wine Society.

Savennières "Clos de Coulaine" 2005, Chateau Pierre-Bise: Top vintage for this good Loire producer, They do make some great Chenin. £9.95 from Stone, Vine and Sun.

The drugs that have improved my mood and made me perky enough to enjoy wine again have also made me violently sick. I am afraid these tasting notes comes from sips taken in between waves of nausea rolling over me.

Riesling Scharzhofberger Pergentsknopp 2005, Van Volxem
This has a very ripe nose. So ripe, indeed that is smells slightly of varnish, and this is not attractive. The palate seems confused about how dry it wants to be, and there are more hints of varnish and acetone on the palate. It is quite long, I'll give you that, but just not very nice.

Riesling Grand Cru Brand 2001, Domaine Albert Boxler
A very rich, earthy nose to this. The fruit from sun-ripened grapes also shines through. This has a very pleasing nose. The palate is quite dry, but full of fruit and bursting with life. It seems, slightly surprisingly, up for drinking now. Great acidity and a lovely mineral tang grace the finish. This is not perhaps one of (the great) Jean Boxler's most spell-binding wines, but it provides exceedingly high quality drinking.

Pommard Premier Cru les Rugiens 2003, Domaine de Courcel
A rich, powerful nose of ripe fruit and earth brushed with a seasoning of oak. This has a big and serious nose: very complex, very stylish. The initial impression on the palate is of a big wine. Despite the size of the nose and palate this is really silky, svelt and sexy. It has great refinement for an obvious monster of a wine. The tannic structure is superb, and is perfectly balanced by the epic quantities of fruit present. Excellent Pommard and a truly great 2003.

Hermitage 1997, J-L Chave
A soft nose of grilled meat and mature fruit, spicy, rich and warm. It certainly smells very complex and quite typical. The palate seems reasonably soft, with very good fruit and a nice long finish. I didn't get to try as much of this as I would have liked, as I was feeling so sick, but it seemed excellent.

I used to love von Kesselstatt wines when I was at university, but I have learnt to my cost that they just do not age. I felt reasonably safe buying a two year old wine from a vintage as great as 2005, though.

Riesling Spatlese Josephshofer 2005, Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt
The nose is quite peachy and limey, with a reasonable degree of slatey minerality. There is really quite a lot of botrytis there, too. There is a warmth and richness to the fruit that suggests this is going to be a really rather ripe wine. Indeed it is, I've had Auslesen drier and less botrytic than this. Bonkers vintage, man. The acidity is quite good, but it lacks a bit of minerality on the palate; it doesn't quite have enough zip. That being said, this is not a bad bottle for an Ayrton, it is not going to set the world on fire but I am happy enough to drink it. 

I hate to say it, but wine is still not really combating my unhappiness. It is certainly nice to drink, but it doesn't transport me to another place as once it did. I need to get my medication sorted out.

Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 1995, Pol Roger
A dense nose, dominated by Pinot. It has a really nice digestive biscuit character to it. Serious complexity here and it is only just starting to open up. This is a damned good wine.

Riesling Ried Loibenberg Smaragd 2002, Emmerich Knoll
Very light nose, hints of petrol and botrytis, maybe a touch of white pepper. It smells quite mature. Very light palate with huge acidity, clearly no malolactic fermentation here. There is a reasonable amount of fruit there. This is a perfectly pleasant drink, just lacks a bit of the wow-factor.

Gevrey-Chambertin "Mes Favorites" 2001, Domaine Alain Burguet
Lovely nose of good fruit and earthy complexity. It smells pretty ripe and fruity. There is some reasonable acid on the palate, but I think this is balanced by the density of fruit in the wine. It is quite long and reasonably complex. A very good village wine.

Hermitage "La Chapelle" 1995, Jaboulet
A polished, rounded nose of complex fruit, earth and voluptuous complexity. It smells big, ripe and very good. The palate is quite the mouthful with lots of fruit, great structure and a really long finish. This is a super wine which is in top condition to drink now. I'll last forever, though.

Hermitage 1995, J-L Chave
Ah, what a wonderful nose! Scented, perfumed and complex. There is a lot of fruit there, but it is soft and nicely mature. The palate is also soft and really has a lot of charm. It is extraordinarily long with great complexity. Really stylish too. This is aalso drinking very well now, but again will keep for a lot longer. This was generally preferred over the other Hermitage, and I agree this is truly great wine, but that was too.

Chateau Gillette Creme de Tete 1983
Chateau Gillette is a really weird wine, and it shows. The nose has hints of glue and acetone as well as botrytic fruit. It doesn't smell entirely nice, if I am honest. The palate is similarly weird, but it does have complexity and really good length. This is clearly a very special wine that needs to be judged according to different criteria than other Sauternes, but I am not sure I am much of a fan.

I was advised to decant this for a while. I did and it seems to have worked (to a degree).

Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru les Cras 1996, Domaine Roumier
A bright nose of fresh red fruit, raspberries and redcurrants. There is some earthy richness there as well. This shows a lot of harmony and elegance. When I first opened this the palate was very acidic, hard and charmless. However, with a couple of hours in a decanter the fruit has developed somewhat and it masks the acidity. Slightly. There is good fresh fruit there, but it is still a bit harsh.

I've signed up for Google AdSense, in the vain hope it'll earn me a few pennies toward a bottle of wine. I suppose this means I should now try to ditch my eccentric style and be really populist so I get lots of hits, but it just isn't going to happen.

Click on those links, boys and girls.

M. Cotat thinks his wines age for a long period of time; I've only ever had them young. I've always been impressed by their intellectual pleasure.

Sancerre "La Grande Cote" 2004, Francois Cotat
An intense, opulent nose of flowers, mango and minerality. This is hewn from the living rock of Sancerre. The nose may have real intensity, yet it seems tightly bound and waiting to flower. Let us be honest, there is a bit of sulphur there, too. The palate is a blazing light of brilliant intensity, illuminating the palate with minerals, fruit and life. This is a truly excellent wine, that will obviously repay cellaring. That being said, this is one arse of a good drink to have now.