1988 Tokaji Aszú, 5 Puttonyos, Nyulászó Dűlő, Hungary (£14.99, 50cl bottle, reduced to £11.99 as part of a mixed case, selected Oddbins). I adore Hungarian Tokaji – the decadent and historic sweetie in its trademark, dumpy, 50cl bottle. Every year I taste a handful of examples and search for the finest of the bunch. The current vintage for most offerings this year is 2001, so when a twenty year old sample turned up from the ever-vigilant Claire Graham, wine buyer at Oddbins, I was shocked to roll the bottle over in my hands and see a sticker proclaiming its eminently affordable price tag! Usually wines of this age are upwards of fifty quid a throw (google Tokaji and faint at their nose-bleed price tags)! Claire warned me that this was a cracking wine and that carrot cake was its ideal food match (I reckon that she had some for lunch the day that she found it!), and she’s right, but you would be very well advised to uncork a bottle of this with your Christmas pud! The nostaglic, intense, marmalade, incense, Brazil nut and drunken fig notes make is a true slice of joy. This is a wine that really tastes authentic and aged – it is not often that you can buy wines of this class and integrity these days so dive in today.
