It fills me with a sense of childish excitement when I visit a new wine region. I’ve said it before, and likely I will say it again, that it is when you visit a region that the penny drops: all the book learning and knowledge of the wines falls into place, and you begin to understand the wines on another level.

I am here in Tokaj, the Hungarian wine region famous for its sweet wines. I’m visiting Disznoko, one of the leading producers, hosted by the talented Laszlo Meszaros, who runs this impressive estate. For now, a few pictures. Today, we take part in the aszu harvest, picking the shrivelled, nobly rotted grapes from the bunches one by one. It takes a single person whole day to harvest just 8 kg of these grapes, which form the heart of this sweet wine.