£18, The Wine Society If ever there was a wine that shouted terroir, it's this single-vineyard dry white Furmint from Nyulászó, one of Tokaji's First Growths in the enduring formal classification that dates from the late 18th century. Actually, shout is not the word: rather, it sings of its hillside volcanic bedrock and rich clay soils. How does that show itself in the wine? To me, in the arresting, tangy smoke aroma and mouthwatering tang on the palate that I think of as a v

A five-centilitre sample may sound miserly but, when we’re talking about Tokaji Essencia, it’s lavish. To make the wine in this miniature bottle will have required between two and three kilos of grapes and taken one person about half a day to pick, snipping out individual grapes. No wonder production is on an equally tiny scale: just 1,386 half bottles (37.5cl) were produced in 2009. Not only that but 2009 is only the seventh vintage of Essencia that Royal Tokaji has produced

£13.75–£13.95, The Daily Drinker and Corney & Barrow I chose a dry Furmint as my Wine of the Week in November and make no apologies for choosing another. This cheaper one is a great introduction to a grape variety, which, as I said then, "is up there with the best". It's also timely: Furmint is being promoted in London this month by Wines of Hungary UK, under the banner Furmint February. I tasted it with a slew of other good examples at the trade tasting that kick-started pro

£23.50, Corney & Barrow Don't be put off by the the thought of having to pronounce the name. This is a wonderful dry white, full of flavour and character, and Öreg Király-dulo translates simply and memorably as Old King vineyard. The steep, stony, traditionally terraced vineyard is on the majestic Király-hegy (King's hill), near the old town of Mád in the heart of the Tokaj region, and has belonged to the Barta family since 2003. They and their winemaker Vivien Ujvári are com

Two bottles of rare, museum collection Tokaji Aszú were opened in London last week. I was one of a handful of tasters Revolutionary harvest: 1956 Tokaji Aszú 5 puttonyos in its special 60th anniversary bottle For most of its life, this 1956 Tokaji Aszú was labelled 1957. It was not human error but a policy decision. The 1956 harvest started on 22 October and the next day the revolution against the Soviet Union began when students in Budapest took to the streets. When the comm