Luscious, Sweet Wines

These sweet wines often have intense flavours of peach, pineapple and honey, and are best showcased in the Bordeaux wines of Sauternes and Barsac. These are syrupy and rich wines with intense flavours of pineapples and peaches, butterscotch, barley sugar and honey, all balanced by acidity. Monbazillac, Cerons, Loupiac and Ste-Croix-du-Mont all produce lighter, less expensive examples.

The Loire Valley produces rather unusual sweet wines that are also less rich and less expensive: Quarts de Chaume, Bonnezeaux and Vouvray. They're quince-flavoured with a firm acid grip and a minerally streak. Do bear in mind though that most Vouvrays are dry; the sweet ones will be labelled as 'moelleux' or 'liquoreux'.

The Alsace sweet wines tend to be very rich, and are good accompaniments to foie gras. Gewurztraminer versions tend to be heavier than Pinot Gris, with Riesling being the lightest of the three. Selection de Grains Nobles will be sweeter than Vendange Tardive.

The sweet wines of Germany have their own language to describe them. Beerenauslese (selected berries) and Trockenbeerenauslese (dry selected berries) are intensely sweet and extremely expensive; Auslese (selected) is less sweet and less expensive. They are all very high quality, and the best are made from Riesling, whose intense acidity keeps the sweetness from being overwhelming.

Eiswein (Germany) and Icewine (Canada) are made from frozen grapes picked in the middle of winter, and produce a fiercely acidic wine with thick, rich sweetness.

Hungary's Tokaji is perfumed with smoke, apricot, toffee, vanilla, orange peel and honey, and is of very high quality. Its acidity prevents it from being overly sweet.

Moscatel de Valencia is a simple, sweet Muscat from Spain; it is unpretentious, down-to-earth and incredibly good value.

For around £5 to £10, try:

• Tokaji Dry Furmint Emerencia (Hungary): Juicy tropical fruit balanced by mouth-watering acidity, with zesty lemons and a long finish.
• Moscatel de Valencia (Spain): A luxurious ultra-sweet wine, with overtones of honey and orange marmalade.

For around £10 to £20, try:

• Cave de Turckheim Tokay Pinot Gris Vendange Tardive (Alsace): A honeyed with peach and pear notes.
• Lemaire, Vouvray Moelleux (Loire): Ripe with plenty of honeydew, almonds, hints of liquorice and even a hint of black fruit on the finish.
• Château Bastor Lamontagne, Sauternes (Bordeaux): Lusciously sweet, honeyed wines designed to be drunk young.

To push the boat out (over £20), try:

• Cave de Turckheim Tokay Pinot Gris Selection des Grains Nobles (Alsace): Golden, sweet, with marmalade flavours.
• Cave Spring Cellar Riesling Icewine (Niagara, Canada) :Luscious fruit flavours, honeyed sweetness and balanced acidity.
• Erdener Pralat Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel, Dr. Loosen (Mosel): Intense full bodied wine with an exotic fruit complexity.