A crisp, fruity, aromatic quaffer from Sardinia, with appelaing acidity, some boiled sweets on the nose and flavours of fennel, stone fruit and citrus. Very summery.
Price Range: £5-£10
2012 Principe Pallavicini Poggio Verde Frascati Superiore Secco, Rome
( £8.50, 13.5%, The Wine Society )Proper, bone-dry Frascati with good concentration and plenty of herbal, Mediterranean flavours. Saline and slightly bitter (no bad thing here, if you’re drinking the wine with food), this is a tangy, palate-cleansing white with a nutty finish.
2009 Villa di Vetrice Chianti Rufina Riserva, Tuscany
( £9.95, 13%, The Wine Society )Chaintis from Rufina often have a slightly savoury, even rustic note to them, which distinguishes them from Classico styles. This great value example certainly has a little of that, but it’s offset by sweet red fruits. This is a fairly traditional style, combining Sangiovese with Canaiolo, with fairly sturdy tannins and a lift of volatile acidity. A pasta-bashing red.
2012 Cooperatiu agricola Gariguella, Puntils, Emporda, Empordà
( €4, 13.5% )Combining Tempranillo, Garnatxa and Merlot, this is a grassy, strawberry-scented red with refreshing acidity. It’s a little developed perhaps, but at €4 who’s complaining?
2012 Martí Fabra, Lladoner, Empordà, Empordà
( €5, 13% )Fresh, spicy, raspberry fruity rosado with good acidity and a little bit of residual sweetness. Rosehip and wild strawberry, with appealing freshness.
2012 Castillo Perelada, Garnatxa Blanca, Emporda, emporda
( €5, 13.5% )Unoaked and great value, this old vine Garnacha is fresh and minerally with notes of fennel and fresh lemon and a touch of wild herb bitterness. Bright and well balanced, this is a refreshing seafood white.
2012 Finest* Picpoul de Pinet, Languedoc
( £7.49 down to £5.62, 12.5%, Tesco )This wine picked up a best white of show award at a Southern French competition I was involved in earlier this year, so it has proven pedigree. It’s the kind of thing that tastes best with a plate of oysters or, failing that, a piece of white fish or some scallops, but it’s great on its own, too. Pear, apple and a hint of tropical fruit combine appealingly on the palate here, with good acidity and impressive concentration for an every-day white.
2011 Finest* Saint Mont, Gascony
( £6.99 down to £5.24, 12.5%, Tesco )The brilliant Plaimont co-operative has done stellar work teasing interesting flavours out of its mostly little known local grapes (Gros Manseng, Petit Courbu and Arufiac, in case you wanted to work on your ampelography skills). This pithy, unoaked blend has plenty of perfume and zesty flavours of pink grapefruit and cox’s apple. The finish is appealingly dry and even a little chalky.
2011 Finest* Albariño, Rías Baixas
( £7.99 down to £5.99, 12.5%, Tesco )It’s a reflection of how Albariño, one of Spain’s best white grapes, has entered the UK mainstream that the major supermarkets nearly all have own-label examples these days. This is from the ever-dependable Martin Codax, and it’s a classy example of the style, showing some spritz, floral aromas, tangy acidity and notes of citrus and honeysuckle. Very quaffable.
2011 Finest* Boranup Sauvignon/Semillon, Western Australia
( £9.99 down to £7.49, 14%, Tesco )Janice McDonald is one of the best white winemakers in Western Australia, with a particularly adept touch with Bordeaux varieties. This Sauvignon/Semillon two step has no oak, so it’s very much a New World rather than a Graves (Bordeaux) style, but that’s part of its appeal. Aromatic and herbal, with palate-tingling acidity and fresh grapefruit and gooseberry notes.
2012 Finest* Denman Vineyard Semillon, Hunter Valley, New South Wales
( £9.99 down to £7.49, 10%, Tesco )This cool climate, low alcohol white from the Hunter Valley is consistently one of the stars of Tesco’s range. Its crisp, lazer-like acidity is offset by a little sweetness (although you don’t notice it), but it’s still leafy and green, with notes of dill and green olive and a tangy finish. Like Hunter Semillons, this wine ages extremely well.
2012 Finest* Tingleup Riesling, Western Australia
( £9.99 down to £7.49, 11%, Tesco )I told you Janice McDonald was an ace white wine maker and this is further proof of her talents, this time with Riesling. This is a beautifully, poised, ageworthy style, focused and pithy with youth on its side and bone dry, lime-scented fruit. Buy a few bottles and see how they age over the next decade or so.