Whilst we were in Edinburgh we visited the studio of Sarah-Jane Selwood. This is something I have wanted to do since I purchased my first piece of hers in the mid-nineties. We were both a bit nervous. It was much like visiting a wine producer we love only not having a raft of incisive technical questions to ask; we know a lot about wine but not so much about ceramics.

When I looked over her dining room balcony and saw the beautiful, beautiful bowls she had my anxiety just melted away and I knew I could do ‘appreciative’ better than almost anyone. The first one that caught my eye was this (click to enlarge):

I had never seen a piece of hers in this colour. It looked and felt totally brilliant. Very sensual.

When I could tear myself away from this one I moved onto a terribly complex reconstruction which was really quite large:

The lines on it were totally pleasing and it had a real feeling of architectural, sculptural beauty. Totally, totally wonderful.

The final pieces that caught my eye were some, how can I put this? Less precise reconstructions:

They had a really organic, vivacious look and feel to them. Like all of her pieces their texture was completely lovely.

We talked ceramic details for a while, managed some questions about how she throws, reconstructs and fires them and, most importantly, told her how the beauty of her pieces delights, charms and compels us. She seemed charmed. We were charmed, too, she is a completely delightful person.

So why ‘under-appreciated’? Our impression is that, given the tiny amount she now makes, the constant progression of ideas she has and the skill she shows in making really difficult stuff, the prices you can buy them for are hilariously low. For a bowl the size of the white one in the second picture someone like Rupert Spira would charge four or five times the price. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rupert Spira’s work, and don’t think his prices are outrageous, it is just that Sarah-Jane’s work is a huge bargain. I strongly suggest you go to The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, Contemporary Applied Arts or the Contemporary Ceramics Gallery (both in London) and snap up what you can of hers before people realise how good she is.

I should add that Sarah-Jane will be at the Collect art fair in London this May, we saw the stuff she will be bringing and it is great. There will be many other people whose work is worth seeing at the fair. Details of the event are here.

At the crack of sparrow-fart tomorrow morning the partner and I will be going to Edinburgh. We’ll check out the wine merchants and, even better, we will go and visit Sarah-Jane Selwood’s studio. She is my favourite cermicist, she has new ideas on a regular basis. You can see some of the pieces of hers we own here. Beautiful, eh? Holding and fondling such beautiful things pleases me in a way I find hard to express. It maybe true that, after silence, that which expresses the inexpressible best is music, but a beautiful bowl does a pretty damned-good job.

And this wine isn’t short on it.

Riesling Auslese Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg 2007, Karthauserhof
A lovely, lovely nose of ultra-ripe limes, with a hint of charming peachiness. There is a great, smoky stoniness to it as well, which really tickles my fancy. This smells quite delicious, you’ve got to love such an expressive, pleasing nose. It is quite sweet, with incredible, but totally harmonious, acidity. I am enlivened! This is one of those utterly ravishing, mouth-watering palates that only the very best German sweeties have. It is totally tasty, even though I suspect it is beginning to close up a bit. Yes, I am drinking this now with a nip-load of pleasure, but we should really be saving our other bottles for at least another five years. This will have a long and glorious life of making all who drink it very happy. Yummy yummy, in my tummy.

I really loved the Dujac Morey 05 I had last night, it was quite delicious and this got me thinking about 'premium' village level Burgundy. There are a few producers who give their basic offerings real stuffing and they are proper wines by any definition of the word. I've plucked a few of my favourite out of the air and if you can think of others feel free to add them.

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This is a great pleasure to drink.

Morey-Saint-Denis 2005, Domaine Dujac
This smells just lovely. Ripe fruit and a scented, floral character; a lovely rose garden! Clean as a whistle. It may only be a village wine but it is quite charming. The palate has smooth, clean, ripe fruit which is deeply lovely. Wines like this commune with the mind of the lover of fine things. Ultimately, it won't set the world on fire, but the great, great pleasure you have whilst you drink it is the kind of feeling you want to be having.

We are told that this is a wine of auslese ripeness, selected from the best parts of the vineyard, fermented until it is off-dry. It is quite a nice drink, but I am not entirely convinced.

Riesling Maximin Grunhauser Abtsberg Qba 'Superior' 2007, von Schubert
This has a lovely, detailed nose of peachy fruit and a fantastic stoniness. It is one of the most mineral wines I have smelled in a while. We like this. It is bursting with life and smells like it is going to taste quite delicious. There is certainly nice fruit on the palate, really good acidity and a great mineral tang, but somehow I feel the harmony is not quite there. It has some sweetness, but not quite enough. I also think it lacks a bit of body and weight, which I would expect from an auslese fermented this dry. Moreover, it is a bit short. You can drink it with pleasure, but it just misses a few marks to be the kind of thing you'd want to drink regularly. They are odd things, these German dry-ish wines; sometimes they work really well, but really I prefer the sweeties.

The partner thinks I am being unduly picky about this wine, obviously I disagree. I think he is saying that because he purchased half a case. It'll be really interesting to see how these style wines age.

Sometimes I worry my tastes in wine are becoming so rarified and abstracted that no one else would like the stuff I like. It doesn't often seem to happen, but I still worry. In view of this, I want to ask you, my knowledgeable audience, what wine I should buy to charm a wine neophyte.

I am being filmed in a couple of weeks for a documentary about schizophrenia. I met the producer today and she seemed to think it would be good to film me tasting a wine; clearly I immediately insisted she also have a glass. She doesn't drink much wine and only likes white wine, so what white wine should I get?

The criteria are that the wine has to be white and good. If it is not good I won't get excited and the film will be less funny. I thought about a German 2007 Riesling, but we worry (see below) that these are closing up now. 2008s are not out yet. Mature Riesling is a great pleasure, but not so much for the beginner, I feel. The other thing that occurred to me was the bottle of Moelleux Vouvray I had a couple of weeks ago. It is hilariously good, and was liked back then, but is it a bit weird? Anyway, your recommendations, please!