This is the wine that converts people. Dry Szamorodni is made by picking whole bunches with botrytised and healthy berries together, fermenting the lot to dryness, and then leaving it for years in barrel under a veil of native yeast — flor — in the damp volcanic cellars of Tokaj, where a mould unique to the region coats the walls.

Tinon's is aged five years in 220-litre barrels under those conditions before bottling, and this 2012 has had more than a decade beyond that. Residual sugar sits around 2.4 g/l with acidity near 5.5 g/l: this is a dry wine by any measure, and its richness comes entirely from time and oxidation rather than sweetness.

Samuel Tinon arrived in Tokaj from Bordeaux and set up his own estate in 2000, the first Frenchman to do so post-privatisation. He farms eight hectares by hand across Olaszliszka and Mount Tokaj — no herbicides, no pesticides, no tractors.

Nutty, saline, savoury and long. It sits in the same conversation as great fino and vin jaune, and costs a fraction of either. Comes in a 500ml bottle.

Drink it with: olives and almonds, jamón, aged Comté or sheep's cheese, smoked fish, mushroom dishes, or roast chicken.

Details

• Producer: Samuel Tinon
• Region: Tokaj, Hungary
• Grapes: Furmint, Hárslevelű
• Vintage: 2012
• Bottle size: 500ml