I drink wine, therefore I am

After many quiet months my pals A. and D reappeared yesterday and invited me out to play - to have a simple, inexpensive dinner adorned by a couple of decent bottles from their respective cellars. How could I say no when special bottles of wine are hard to come by in my present impecunious state? My own, once fairly extensive cellar, is now literally non-existent, containing maybe one or two bottles of any note. My standard tipple these days is quaffing wine, decent but inexpensive off-the-shelf jobs that would not excite anyone, let alone a wine person.

The venue was a new to me Persian restaurant in Bayswater called Hafez, which allows guests to bring their own wine in exchange for a not overly steep corkage charge, the drawback being that the wine glasses provided are merely adequate and not made to show off great wines. Food here is simple, wholesome and tasty but definitely not exciting, at least the dishes we sampled; satisfying and delicious they most certainly were, and provided a backdrop for the wines of the night which were, quite simply, spectacular - not even the glasses could dim the impressions they made.

We started with a Greek red wine from the north of the country, a Syrah 1994 from the somewhat utopian Domaine Carras in the Halkidiki peninsula, created on a grand scale by the Greek shipowner John Carras; the 1994 vintage is probably from the tail-end of the golden era of the property. Our example had a deep, lively, ripe red berry nose exactly in tune with its colour, which showed little sign of the wine's 24 years. The Carras Syrah has always been highly rated and, therefore, relatively expensive but on the strength of this bottle this cost was fully justified. The palate held an explosion of ripe red fruit with decent acidity, good balance and a long finish, surprising us with its youthful charm, vigour and sheer class. If you are offered one of these gems anywhere try it, though buying should depend on knowing how it has been kept as this would affect the condition.

Our second wine, from Castello di Brolio in the Chianti Classico region and the rather splendid 1999 vintage was also showing amazingly well -  Chianti is one of those wines that will often disappoint, especially at the lower price points and the more commercial versions. It is almost impossible to get a notable (not great, mind you) bottle for under £15-20 pounds and Castello di Brolio current vintages sell for more like £40 (£39.99 for the 2014 at Waitrose). Saving the pennies, though, to move up the scale is immensely rewarding with the wines being far more complex and interesting, and miles away from the clumsy hard tannins and one dimensional fruit of more ordinary Chianti. This example, bought a long time ago, primarily from the Sangiovese grape but with small additions of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, was no exception, showing a good ripe colour and little sign of age, ripe cherries and prunes on the nose and palate, the latter being soft, complex and long, making for a very satisfying glass of wine. I have had better Chianti, but only very rarely!

So there you go, I had a lovely evening chatting to my friends and drinking their superb wines, while at the same time stuffing my little face with a plate or two of Persian food and surviving to tell the tale. And I'll have you know, dear reader, I did it entirely for you, for your benefit, while allowing myself to enjoy it a tiny, tiny bit; I hope you appreciate my dedication and self-sacrifice.