An Eden Valley Riesling that rarely disappoints, this is as reliable as ever, a dry, aromatic, minerally white with notes of apple and pear and an underlying seam of fresh limes. The wine will get toastier with age, if you can keep your hands off it.
Food Match: Fish
2011 Kera Wine Tsolikouri, Kakheti
( N/A, 13.5%, Available from the winery )Apricot stone aroma, intense minerality and savoury fruit. You’d hardly know this qvevri-fermented wine had spent much time on the skins, as there’s very little phenolic influence. Beautiful balance, bone dry and a terrific match with a traditional Georgian salad of aubergines and tomatoes.
2008 Château Doisy-Daëne Blanc Sec, Bordeaux
( £19.95, 12.5%, Tanners )Who says Sauvignon Blanc doesn’t age? When it’s made by Denis Dubourdieu, an academic and hands on winemaker who specialises in the variety, it can be spectacularly good. This is like a mini white Graves, with toasty, bottle-aged complexity, zesty acidity, tangy grapefruit-like flaovurs and a smoky undertone. The wine is delicious now but has more ageing potential if previous releases are a guide.
2010 Domaine Morin, Cuvée Ovide, Sancerre, Loire Valley
( £18.95, 13%, Roberson )The old vine concentration (we’re talking 50 years and counting) is immediately apparent on the nose and palate here. It’s a very subtle, minerally, focused style of Sauvignon Blanc that tastes as if it’s been drained through a bed of limestone. Pithy, restrained, saline, yet very concentrated wtih a finish that skips across your tongue. Drinking this, Ovid would have been moved to poetry.
2011 Leitz Rheingau Riesling Spätlese, Rheingau
( £12.99, 10%, Sainsbury's )Made by the talented Johannes Leitz, this is a modern Rheingau Riesling from a very good vintage, with classic sweet and sour flavours of apple and stone fruit, 47 grams of sugar, some extra weight from lees contact and a long, crunchy finish. Very refreshing, despite the residual sugar.
2011 Waitrose Beaujolais
( £6.99, 12.5%, Waitrose )2011 turned out to be a very drinkable vintage in Beaujolais, just as it did in neighbouring Burgundy, and this own-lablel from teh Georges Duboeuf stable is a red-fruited thirstquencher with pithy acidity and notes of cherry and raspberry.
2011 Fiano Sannio, Campania
( £7.99, 13.5%, Marks & Spencer )The winemaker behind this southern Italian white is the famous Dr Riccardo Cotarella, who certainly appears to have a magic touch with this increasingly popular grape. It’s spicy and fresh with notes of pear and citrsu fruit and a tangy, unoaked finish. Very focused.
2009 Kumeu River Coddington Vineyard Chardonnay, Kumeu
( £20, 13.5%, The Wine Society )Master of Wine Michael Brajkovich crafts some of the finest whites in New Zealand, wines that wouldn’t look out of place in Burgundy but also have a Kiwi edge to them. This is typically fresh and refined with adeptly integrated oak, a hint of toasty, a creamy texture and pure, focused, citrus and mineral flavours. These wines age extremely well, too.
2007 Nikolaihof Steiner Hund Reserve, Kremstal
( £45, 12.5%, Berry Bros & Rudd )This brilliant biodynamic estate is based in the Wachau on the “wrong” side of the Danube, but this wine hails from vineyards in neighbouring Kremstal. It’s an incredible Riesling: intense, focused and minerally with remarkable texture, density and concentration. Honey, white flowers and a stony undertow, with spice, creamy lees and a finish that lasts for minutes. The wine will develop for at least another decade in bottle.
2012 Tesco Finest Tingelup Riesling, Western Australia
( £9.99, 12.4%, Tesco )This isn’t quite the amazing bargain it once was, but it’s still one of the best whites on Tesco’s books, a stylish, finely crafted white from Howard Park. It’s fresh and minerally, with haunting lime-juice and citrus peel flavours and a dry, stony aftertaste. On past perfermance, it will develop well in bottle, too.
2010 Errazuriz, Max Reserva Chardonnay, Casablanca Valley
( £12.49, 13.5%, Berry Bros & Rudd, The Leamington Wine Company )A comparatively old-fashioned, worked style of Chardonnay, with lots of sweet peach and coconut flavours, but plenty of fresh acidity to keep the whole barrage ballon up in the air. Mealy and slightly sweet, with bags of fruit.
2011 Abadal, Picapoll, Pla de Bages
( £10, 13%, Martinez Wines )Sourced from the Pla de Bages appellation in Catalonia, this is made from the same grape as Picpoul de Pinet, but is somehow weightier and spicier than many French examples. Pear and apple with an undertone of peach, Mediterranean herbs and crunchy, zesty acidity.