Top five wines to drink, before they run out

Economists have warned that global demand for wine is outstripping supply, inevitably leading to a shortage.

Here are five great and/or rare wines you should sample some time in your life, or, indeed, before they run out:

1 Top-quality riesling

Not cheap sugary liebfraumilch, obviously, but the finest rieslings from Germany (delicate, floral, long-lived), or Alsace (richer, food-friendly) or Australia (lime-drenched, drier). Strangely, riesling is still utterly under-appreciated.

2 Tokaji

The traditional Hungarian dessert wine is made near the town of Mad, partly from over-ripe, semi-rotten grapes. So, unpromising. But the best Tokaji (labelled “5 puttonyos” or more) delivers a sublime mouthful of apricot, marmalade and honey, and it’s divine with dark chocolate.

3 Champagne

A vintage release from the likes of Krug, Pol Roger or Louis Roederer, please, ideally between 15 and 20 years old, a brut (dry), lightly chilled, with seafood canapes or sashimi. In short, not any old bubbly with a cheese straw.

4 Sherry

Come back! The proper stuff — either bone-dry, salty-fresh, green-olive scented fino, served ice-cold, or richer, hazelnutty and lingering amontillado, or the astonishing cocktail of walnuts, coffee, raisins and figs that is dry oloroso. Or all three — try all three!

5 Red Burgundy

We’ll take this over top Bordeaux, for the soft, smooth beguiling texture of its pinot noir, strawberry-scented, with hints of chocolate and toasted nuts. For purely financial reasons, though, drinking best Burgundy is a habit to acquire only when you know the end is pretty well nigh.

The Daily Telegraph