This was recommended to me as a serious wine at a bargain price. It is a nice drink certainly, but is not going to set the world on fire with its complexity.

Riesling Spatlese Enkircher Ellergrub 2007, Weiser-Kunstler
A nice, fruity nose, with that pleasing baby fat character of Riesling. This is in the full flush of attractive youth. It doesn't have much in the way of complexity, alas. The palate is pretty similar: nice fruit, soft and charming, but nothing to really excite. I like it very much for a tenner a bottle, but let us be honest in that this is a quaffing wine in comparison to the loveliness of producers like Prum, Haag, Schaefer, Thanisch and so on. Sorry, Jeremy, whilst I am pleased to own several bottles of this (I'll drink it when I bloody need a drink in the summer) this is not the thrilling entity of intensity which you had promised. Would I recommend this? Probably to a person of limited means who likes Kraut wine, but even though I am of hilarious limited means I'd rather drink something nicer and more expensive.

Sometimes when you try a wine it really hits your sweet spot. Sometimes these wines are really great bargains, and you feel really good about drinking them. I remember buying Clusel-Roch when I was at Oxford and I was deeply moved by their total elegance and refinement.

Cote-Rotie 2005, Clusel-Roch
This has astonishingly lovely blackberry fruit on the nose; pure and refined. It has a rich earthiness behind the fruit, which gives it dimension. There is a lot going on in the nose, but it never seems over-whelming. This is a nose that knows it is good. I know it is good, too, we understand each other on this front. When thinking about the nose I want to use the words sexy, svelte and silky, but I fear I may need these to describe the palate. I do, it turns out. The tannins are svelte and silky, with sophisticated, sexy layers of fruit. Real focus and purity, but there is a lot to enjoy here. This really does it for me. OK, their Grand Places named vineyard cuvee may be utterly better in all respects, but I am not drinking that now, I am drinking this, and I bloody love it.

Another bottle of 2002 fizz, better (and less painful) than the Gimonnet, I am pleased to report. Years ago we went to a very unsatisfying tasting at Roederer and this is the first bottle of their wine I have purchased since then. I got this to celebrate eight years of the partner living in the UK (OK, and also because I wanted to try another 2002).

Vintage Champagne 2002, Louis Roederer
It is quite bready and yeasty. There is an odd coconut character to the nose which is not as unattractive as it sounds. It seems fresh and lively when you smell it, as well it should only being seven years old. The palate has a fine mousse, some reasonable fruit and pretty good length. There is a degree of complexity, as well. This is a perfectly reasonable bottle of fizz with nice flavours and good balance, but I find myself being less thrilled drinking this than, say, the Inflorescence, which had the advantage of being cheaper. It is good enough to celebrate a happy event, though.

Although you'd never have guessed, eh? We have switching hosting companies to a faster, cheaper provider. The transition should have been seamless.

This was the second bottle we took to wonderful Hawksmoor yesterday. They charge a fiver corkage on Mondays, which is pretty good. When I opened my bottle of this four years ago it seemed to be lacking some of the pleasure that this displays.

Cornas "Vieilles Fontaines" 1995, Alain Voge
Good earthy complexity on the nose, with a pleasing depth of fruit character. This does smell concentrated, but really quite elegant and refined for a Cornas. It is fully mature based on the nose and up for drinking. The palate is really silky and svelte, with fine tannins and lovely fruit. It is surprisingly light bodied, but this comes across more as elegance than dilution. This is quite a refined, classy bottle of Cornas, if not terribly Cornas-like. Good stuff.

You may recall that I admitted to being foolish and buying Jean Grivot wines. Exactly how awful was one of them? Read on and find out.

Chambolle-Musigny Combe d'Orveau 2003, Jean Grivot
Does this even smell of Pinot? The nose is all over the place with poorly defined, excessive fruit, a big smack of alcohol and not much else. Where is the harmony of Chambolle? Where is the beauty? They are not on the palate, that is for sure. It is quaquaversal in its horribleness - weird, tough, unconvincing flavours assault your senses and leave you wishing there was a spittoon. The tannins in this wine are bloody awful, so hard and tough with nothing redeeming about them, there isn't even that much fruit on the palate to balance things out; it is all just bitter tannin and raw acidity. This is one of the most shamefully awful Burgundies I've tried in... oh... a period of time. It has been demonstrated that I am a fool for buying this and if you'll all form a queue outside my flat you can start throwing the rocks at me now.

I ran a little tasting last night. Apart from the Salon, only one wine was generally sniffed at.

Blanc des Blancs Le Mesnil 1996, Salon
Corked! Bums. I haven't had so much luck with Salon recently.

Manzanilla Pasada Pastrana, Hidalgo
This had a delicious aroma of nuts. It was very characterful, with a decent degree of style. This is a top example. The palate was really dry, with great, fresh acidity and a love array of interesting flavours. Yum. Only the partner and I liked it, everyone else said, "No".

Riesling Kabinett Enkircher Ellergrub 2007, Weiser-Kunstler
Lovely babyfat fruity nose, highly attractive. So fruity, in fact, that one of the guests sniffed it and said, "Mmm... Muscat!" Not the most complex of noses, but it did charm. The palate was slightly sweet, but the acid level was just a bit low. Bit simple, too. For the price I found this a hilarious bargain, but from the recommendation I'd been given I'd hoped it would be a bit more serious. Our guest who told me at a previous tasting he hates German wine bloody loved it.

Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux 2005, Huet
Amazing, it smells of fruit! Tinned lychees in heavy syrup. Heavy syrup is the best. It also smells quite a lot of a decaying barn, wood and hay, you know? There is some amazing mineral character to it. This is very serious, could it even be nice? Yes it bloody could, the palate is delicious. Good sweetness matched by perfect acidity. Really mouthwatering, really tasty, really good. This is a lively, thrilling wine that would fit Mr Tully's requirement for incredible acidity to perk him up. Didn't M. Foreau point out that you were very sensitive to acidity, Edward?

Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg Vendanges Tardives Trie Speciale 2004, Domaine Weinbach
You know, I'm so pleased with my previous note, I don't feel I can better it.

2003 in Europe was a bonkers vintage, so hot. All the wines I had in the flat that summer got ruined. Many wines are just hideously over ripe, often too alcoholic, and occasionally sweet. But sometimes, one of them has style.

Cornas Domaine de Rochepertuis 2003, Jean Lionnet
This is really crazy man, really ripe and almost, but not quite, jammy. I suppose I'd like to describe the plummy fruit as opulent, will that do? The nose is undoubtedly hedonistic, it entices you in to have a mouthful. This is a nose that really excites the imagination. OK, the palate is tannin-tastic, in fact after the finish is actually a bit bitter. I love the fruit, good acidity, complexity but the tannins, especially after you swallow spit are just really bitter. This is quite an interesting wine, it has a degree of restraint that most 2003s don't have, but I fear the grapes were pressed until the pips squeaked.

I purchased this bottle for the partner, because I lost a bet. I bet the partner a bottle of wine that when I was locked up the NHS would cock-up getting me to psychotherapy. A good bet, I thought, but I lost. This, we are told, is pure Pinot Noir from a 1.49ha vineyard which produces 8900 bottles per year. It is secondarily fermented to a low pressure (4 Bar) and has no dosage.

Champagne Blanc de Noirs Brut 'Inflorescence', Jean-Pierre Bouchard (aka Roses de Jeanne)
By arse, this has an amazing nose. I don't quite know how to describe it, but I am smitten. Buttered ciabatta, possibly, or something Pinot Gris-like? There is much in the way of fruit there. It really smells like a deep, intense and complex wine, rather than a just another bottle of fizz. I mean, tits, man! This is ace! (Not ace-hole.) The palate is really great. Dense and complex, powerful and weighty but absolutely refined and balanced. It is truly excellent. The light, refined, fine mousse seems of almost secondary importance, which is odd for fizz, so stylish and god-damned pleasing is its powerful vinous character. That top geezer Jeremy told me about this, a top recommendation. I'll recommend it when I am feeling together enough for more wine recommendations. It is a freaking triple-A bottle of wine; I want more. And I am pleased to report it is better and cheaper than Egly-Ouriet's Blanc de Noirs.