If you’ve never tasted Torrontés before, this is an excellent place to start. It’s abndantly aromatic with notes of orange peel and lemon sorbet, a fresh, flavoursome palate that has more acidity than many examples and a fine finish.
2011 Coeur des Anges, Vin de France
( £9.99, 12.5%, Laithwaites )The palest of rosés made from the Sauvignon Gris grape in the south-west of France. The wine is delicate and fragrant, with a touch of green pepper and summer fruits and plenty of crunchy, food-friendly acidity.
2011 Changyu Cabernet/Gernischt, Ningxia, China
( £9.99, 12.5%, Waitrose )One of the more drinkable Chinese wines to cross my tasting bench, this is a quaffable, sweetish blend with slighty angular acidity and pleasant cassis and red cherry fruit. Not masively (or even slightly) complex, but certainly drinkable.
2011 Scott Fiano, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
( £14.99, 13.5%, Oddbins )The tamptation with Fiano is to pick it too ripe and flacid, so it’s a joy to taste this subtle Ausse expression of one of southern Italy’s most promising varieties. This is minerally and fresh, flecked with pearskin and a hint of apple and a long, spicy finish. A winery to watch.
2010 Los Molles Carmenère, Limari
( £9.99, 14%, Marks & Spencer )Maybe I’m finally coming round to Carmenère, Chile’s USP. This hails from coastal Limari (it’s sourced from the Tabali winery) and has more freshness than most examples. It’s typically deep in colour, with notes of mint, blackcurrant pastille and plum, overlaid with sweet chocolatey oak and a zesty, grassy finish. Good now and should develop in bottle, too.
2010 Hatzidakis Santorini Assyrtiko
( £10.99, 13%, Waitrose )Harry Hatzidakis makes some of the best whites on the volcanic holiday island of Santorini from the wonderful Assyrtiko grape. This is typically fresh and tangy, with a salty undertone, stony minerality and bright, lip-smacking acidity. The wine is shwowing really well right now after two years’ bottle age.
2011 Simply Garnacha, Campo de Borja
( £4.59, 13.5%, Tesco )It’s not easy to find really good glugging reds under £5 any more, but the Campo de Borja region in northern Spain would be my first port of call. This unoaked example from Bodegas Borsao is juicy, brambly and full of raspberry and redcurrant fruit. Soft and supple: pure, uncomplicated pleasure.
2007 Laithwaites Theale Vineyards Blanc de Blancs Founder's Reserve
( £23, 12%, Laithwaites )Laithwaites only makes 999 bottles of this wine (spot the marketing spin), but it’s a pretty impressive English take on a Blanc de Blancs Champagne, with small bubbles, creamy autolysis and a bready, refreshing finish. The acidity is just a little raw perhaps.
2007 Concha y Toro, Otorio Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Maule Valley
( £6.99, 12%, Tesco, www.tesco.com )It’s comparatively rare to find Sauvignon Blanc made as a sweet wine on its own (as opposed to blended with Semillon), but this value-for-money sticky from Chile suggests that the grape is well suited to these styles. Honey and quince with an undertone of pink grapefruit.
2010 Domaines Brocard Sélection, Chablis 1er Cru, Burgundy
( £14.99, 12.5%, Sainsbury's )One of a series of brilliant Chablis to emerge from this domaine (or domaines) in 2010, this is a textbook example of what Chardonnay can produce in a great year in the Yonne. It’s tangy and fresh with lovely chalky minerality and purity of fruit. Deliciously drinkable.
2011 Elki Pedro Ximenez, Elqui Valley
( £8.50, 13%, www.thedailydrinker.co.uk )If you’re used to PX being a sweet grape from Jerez, this wine may surprise you because it’s dry and refreshing. It’s also from the edge of Chile’s Atacama desert. It’s zesty and crisp with a mealy texture and a slight edge of bitterness, which works well with food.
2011 Perpetuum Premium Torrontés, La Rioja
( £10.45, 13%, Cupari Wines )Fresh, perfumed Torrontés from La Rioja in Argentina showing the classic talcum powder notes fof the variety. The wine is a little oily perhaps, but it’s full of flavour and spice, with a bright lemony finish and a hint of grapeskin.