On hot summer days – we’re due a run of them soon, surely – there’s almost nothing I enjoy more than a glass of chilled Mosel Riesling. This own-label bottling from Peter Mertes is something of a bargain: crisp, perfumed and refreshing with a hint of sweetness, flavours of lime, peach and fresh grapes and a stony, mouth-watering finish. Appealingly light-bodied.
Food Match: Fish
2022 Taste the Difference Grüner Veltliner, Traisental
( £11, 12.5%, Sainsbury's )It always strikes me as something of a coup by Sainsbury’s to get top Austrian winemaker Marks Huber to produce their own-label Grüner Veltliner. Gloriously pure and perfumed, this has classic white pepper and bay leaf aromas, a palate of pear, peach and green apple, some extra texture from three months on lees in tank and plenty of racy, crunchy acidity. A delicious summer white.
2023 Mythral Côtes de Provence Rosé, Provence
( £11.99, 12.5%, Majestic )Good value by the standards of some Provence rosés – surely one of the most profitable wine styles in the world – this is an appealingly packaged, lip-smacking pink from Les Grands Chais de France. Based on Grenache, with the remaining 40% made up of six other red and white grapes, it has good focus and intensity, redcurrant, watermelon and rosehip flavours and a refreshing, chalky finish.
2022 Laurent Miquel Lieu-Dit La Vérité Viognier, Pays d'Oc
( £19.99, 14.5%, Waitrose Cellar )I have to admit that I often find Viognier a one glass wine, but Laurent Miquel’s La Vérité from a special parcel on one of his Languedoc estates is the kind of thing I could drink by the case. Intense, textured, creamy, yet refreshing, it has aromas of honeysuckle and vanilla, a toasty top note from ageing in new French barrels, layers of peach, citrus zest and apricot and enough acidity to keep the palate barrelling along.
2022 Taste the Difference Côtes du Rhône White, Rhône Valley
( £9, 12.5%, Sainbury's )Who needs to age a white wine in oak when it has as much flavour as this southern Rhône blend of Grenache Blanc, 20% Viognier, 12% Roussanne and 10% Marsanne? Honeysuckle, jasmine and ginger aromas segue into a palate that’s light, zesty and refreshing, with peach, lemongrass and wild mountain herb flavours and a bright, appealingly tangy finish.
2023 Tenute Pieralisi Monte Schiavo, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico
( £8.99, 11.5% )Part of a really good new range of Italian whites from Majestic – look out for other arrivals over the next month – this is a bright, tangy, unwooded Verdicchio from one of the highest vineyards in the Marche region. As crisp and a freshly ironed white shirt, it has fennel and chamomile aromas, flavours of citrus and quinine, racy acidity and a waft of mountain herbs. Long and refreshing.
NV Taste the Difference Cava, Catalonia
( £7.50 until May 14, 11.5%, Sainsbury's )Just the thing if you’re looking for a party fizz – especially at the reduced price until May 14th – this is a Cava made from traditional local grapes, rather than interlopers like Chardonnay. Blending 40% Xarel-lo with 30% each of Macabeo and Parellada, this is a bargain bubbly from Castillo de Perelada, with lots of zip, notes of cream and petrichor, citrus and yellow apple flavours and a hint of sweetness.
2022 Casa Ferreirinha Planalto White Reserva, Douro Valley
( £8.99, 12.5%, Majestic )The Douro Valley may be better known for Port and red table wines, but its whites can offer tremendous quality and value for money too. This brilliant, unoaked blend is a cuvée of seven different local grapes – Arinto, Codega, Godello, MalvasÃa Fina, Moscatel, Rabigato and Viosinho – from cooler, higher altitude sites. Spicy, pithy and intense, it’s a bright, tangy, seafood friendly number with citrus, lime, white pepper and fennel flavours and a lingering finish.  Outstanding value.
2021 Gallina de Piel Manar dos Seixas, Ribeiro
( £23.98, 13%, Shelved Wine, The Fine Wine Company )David Seijas was the sommelier at El Bulli, considered the best restaurant in the world at the time, for 11 years, but is now making an excellent range of Spanish wines under his Gallina de Piel label. This is brilliant cuvée of mostly Treixadura with lesser amounts of Godello, Albariño and Loureira, sourced from the granite soils of the Ribeiro region. Intense, stony and bone dry, it has flavours of lemongrass and pink grapefruit, plenty of grip and intensity and top notes of green tea, chamomile and juniper. Utterly delicious.
2022 Villard Grand Vin Le Pinot Noir, Casablanca Valley
( £21, 13.5%, The Wine Society )The best Pinot Noir yet from Chilean-based Villard père and fils, Thierry and Charlie, this is the sort of thing that should have Burgundy lovers reaching for their wallets and purses. Fermented with 10% whole bunches and aged in 20% new wood, it’s sappy and intense, with a waft of vanilla spice, subtle reduction, raspberry and black cherry fruit and a thrilling mineral core.
2017 Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Semillon, Hunter Valley
( From £26.95, 11%, 3-wines.com, Vinum, Wine Republic )Hunter Semillon has crept up in price over the last decade – I can still remember the days when Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference cost £6.99 – but it remains a comparative bargain among the great wines of the world. This classically unwooded example comes from the famous Lovedale vineyard, planted back in 1946. Still youthful at seven years of age, it has flavours of lime, lemongrass and custard, a hint of the toastiness that will develop with more time in bottle, and a wonderfully tangy finish.
2019 Klein Constantia Metis Sauvignon Blanc, Constantia
( £19.99, 13.5%, Majestic )Loire Valley guru Pascal Jolivet inspired the talented Matt Day to make this wild-fermented, left-field Sauvignon Blanc from two complementary parcels on one of the oldest estates in South Africa’s Constantia Valley. Still youthful, intense and showing some tannic structure, it’s a superb, bone-dry expression of Constantia with notes of grapefruit pith, elderflower and wet stones. How wonderful to see a top Cape producer releasing a white wine with some bottle age.