It’s amazing how much flavour good winemakers can extract from white grapes without recourse to oak if the site is special and yields are kept low. This wonderful Pecorino (nothing to do with the cheese of the same name) from Federico Faraone’s Collepietro vineyard has lovely pear and apple flavours, racy acidity, some skin tannins from cryo-maceration and appealing texture from ageing on fermentation lees. Fresh, intense and full of character.
Wine Type: White
2018 Stepp Riesling S, Kallstadter Saumagen, Pfalz
( £15, 13.5%, Marks & Spencer )Gerd Stepp used to work at Marks & Spencer before he went back to his native Germany to make wine again. Our loss was the Pfalz’s gain, as this is one of the best dry Rieslings on the market for £15 or under. Sourced from the Kallstadter Saumagen vineyard on soils with a high percentage of limestone, it’s wonderfully racy, taut and complex with some creamy weight from six months on its fermentation lees, pithy minerality, lime, jasmine and wet stone notes and a thrilling finish.
2018 Villa Blanche Terret Blanc, Vin de Pays d'Oc
( £6.49 until June 2nd , 12%, Waitrose )Terret Blanc is one of those very localised grape varieties that you only find in the Languedoc, mostly in the Hérault department. It comes in three, mutated colours – white, red and pink (gris) – and tends to be blended with other varieties. This white version is great value at its normal price of £8.49, but a steal at £6.49. Grown on the sort of clay and limestone soils you find in Burgundy, it has some of the zip, citrus crunch and steeliness of an unoaked Chablis, but with top notes of wild Mediterranean herbs. Long, tangy and refreshing.
2013 Blank Canvas Grüner Veltliner, Rapaura, Marlborough
( £16.99, 13%, Bottle Apostle, Cambridge Wine Merchants )Grüner Veltliner is rare enough in New Zealand, but one with six years of bottle age is unique. But what a brilliant wine this is. Part of Matt Thomson and Sophie Parker-Thomson’s off-the-wall series of small volume Kiwi whites and reds, this wouldn’t look out of place in a line up of top Austrian examples of the grape. Partially barrel fermented in larger French oak barrels, it’s bright, focused and remarkably youthful, with notes of bay leaf and white pepper, crunchy minerality and pear and citrus fruit.
2016 Tbilvino Qvevris, Kakheti
( £10.00, 12%, Marks & Spencer )Marks & Spencer have culled a lot of the quirkier wines in their range of late, so I’m delighted that this left-field, skin-fermented white from Georgia, the so-called cradle of wine, is still on its shelves. Made from the local Rkatsiteli grape in the limestone-dominated area of Kakheti, it has funky, earthy, quince and orange peel flavours and some tannic grip. Dry and unusual, it’s a textbook introduction to wines fermented in clay pots, or qvevri.
2018 Palacio de Fefiñanes Albariño, RÃas Baixas
( £15.99, 13.5%, Waitrose )Whether I’m on holiday in Spain or at home in London, this is my favourite summer white. Come to think of it, I drink it pretty much all year round. As crisp and refreshing as an early morning swim in the Atlantic, it’s the quintessential seafood tipple, with tangy, citrus and lime flavours, a hint of stone fruit and a zesty, spritzy finish. A delicious unoaked white that tingles your palate.
2017 Atlantis, Santorini
( £8, down from £12, 13%, Marks & Spencer )Currently on a deal that has reduced its price by £4, this was worth buying at £12, but is especially so now. Made from Greece’s increasingly trendy Assyrtiko, with 5% each of Aidani and Athiri for company, this is a brilliant seafood white that’s crunchy, pithy and slightly salty, with lemon and lime zest fruit, an undertone of wild herbs and a long and very refreshing finish. If the summer ever starts again, drink a bottle outside in the sun. If not, imagine you’re on a Greek island. Drink young and well chilled.
2017 Feiler-Artinger Neuburger Trocken, Rust Am See, Burgenland
( £22.50, 13%, Tanners )Neuburger is an extremely rare grape, even in its native Austria, with only 550 of the country’s 44,000 hectares, but Feiler-Artinger have made something of a specialty of the variety. This is wonderfully perfumed, with very understated oak, peachy, savoury, spicy flavours, plenty of weight and texture. It gives the impression of slight sweetness, but finishes dry, refreshing and well balanced. A wonderful curiosity.
2017 Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay, Nelson
( £44.99, 13.5%, New Zealand House of Wine )Consistently among New Zealand’s best Chardonnays and a wine that ages extremely well under screwcap, this wild-yeast fermented white hails from the Home and Rosie’s Blocks at Neudorf’s vineyards in Upper Moutere. Fresh, elegant and savoury, it has deftly interwoven (12% new) French oak, flavours of citrus and cinnamon, impressive focus and a tangy, mineral-edged core. A very classy, well-judged white.
2017 Brisa de Verano Garnatxa Blanca, Cataluña
( £12.79, 13%, Noel Young Wines, Woodwinters Wines )White Grenache might not be everyone’s idea of a summer white wine, but this Catalan example is remarkably refreshing, demonstrating the variety’s ability to maintain acidity in a hot Mediterranean climate. Lees-aged with some skin contact and the addition of 5% Macabeu (Macabeo in Spanish), this is stony, waxy and intense with a combination of coastal-influenced salinity and undertones of pear and lime.
2017 Taste the Difference Royal Tokaji Dry Furmint, Tokaj
( £8.25, down from £10, 12.5%, Sainsbury's )Furmint is one of the world’s greatest white grapes, although very few people are familiar with it. They might have heard of – or even tasted – a sweet Tokaji (the wine is spelled with an i, the region without) – but dry versions of the grape are harder to track down. So well done Sainsbury’s for listing this taut, racy, stony example with fine texture, citrus and white pepper flavours and a long, refreshing finish.
2017 Domaine Cady Cheninsolite, Anjou, Loire Valley
( £13.99, 14%, Waitrose )The kind of thing that wouldn’t look out of place in a line up of New Wave South African Chenin Blancs, this superb organic Loire Valley example from Alexandre Cady has a winning combination of richness, lees-derived complexity, subtle 30% new oak and thrilling acidity. Flavours of pear, apple and quince combine beautifully on the palate with undertones of baking spices and a long, refreshing finish.