£16.17 (75cl), Great Wines Direct; £9.90–£11.50 (37.5cl), Vinvm, Oddbins, Noble Green Wines, The Whalley Wine Shop, Great Wines Direct Here’s a candidate for the title of perfect anytime wine for a heatwave. It's gently effervescent, feather-light, delicately sweet, as refreshing as summer rain and tastes of rose petals, fresh Muscat grapes and juicy apricots with a drizzle of stem ginger syrup. To cap it all, it’s only 5% alcohol and now comes in a full-size 75cl bottle, as

As ever, my annual sweet and fortified wine guide is the place to rummage for many of the wine world's greatest bargains. More than that, it’s a source of aperitifs and of restorative and comforting wines for long dark evenings (dry, medium and sweet); it's a place to research accompaniments or alternatives to puddings and cheese; and it’s a provider of inspiration for gifts. It’s divided into three: sweet wines, then sherries, where you’ll find dry wines for aperitifs as wel

Sweet wines and fortified wines, dry as well as medium and sweet, are some of the wine world's greatest bargains. They're wonderfully comforting on long, dark evenings and come in a kaleidoscope of styles to suit every taste. They make ideal presents and sweet wines, unfortified or fortified, can be served not only with puddings and cheese but instead of them, when you're time-poor, ingredient-poor or simply don't want any more to eat. I've divided them into two groups below:

Sweet and fortified wines come into their own at this time of year – for entertaining, sipping quietly and contemplatively, or giving as presents. With the exception of pale dry sherries and tawny ports, most can be kept several years (in cellar conditions). Fortifieds, in particular, are also often bargains. So here are my picks for this year, going from dry to sweet and/or fresher, lighter to richer, heavier (rather than in ascending order of price, as with my other Festiv

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

A round-up of white wines – dry first, then sweet – to cover the festive season, whether it's a quiet night in, basic crowd control, or the ultimate celebration. There's also one rosé, a rosé like no other. There's nothing at a really bargain-basement price, as there is in my Festive Reds selection, simply because I don't find the same quality in whites at the bottom of the price scale. Wines are listed in ascending order of price within the two categories of dry then sweet.

Fortified wines are among the wine world's great bargains. They make excellent presents and it's worth pointing out here that the rare Terrantez Madeira and the Pedro Ximénez (aka PX) can be kept for months once opened (although the need may well not arise...). I have also included, below the four fortifieds, a gem of a Canadian Ice Wine. It, too, is a bargain. The fortifieds are listed in ascending order of sweetness, starting with a dry sherry. Watch out for last-order date