Whites
The Co-op Verdicchio dei Castelli de Jesi
Marche, Italy 2021 (£6, The Co-op)
The verdicchio grape grown in central Italy’s Marche is always a good bet for a budget dry summer white with character. This has classic lime-tinged green apple and subtly honeyed almond and a wash of easy, seafood pasta-friendly freshness.
BEST BUY
Weingut Reverchon Ockfener Bockstein Kabinett Riesling Feinherb
Saar, Germany 2018 (£6.49, Aldi)
Rieslings from Germany’s Mosel and Saar valleys work so well in summer thanks to their generally low alcohol (11.5% here) and refreshing, twanging steel guitar-string of acidity. This also includes classic notes of lime and carraway and a hint of spice-friendly sweetness.
Waitrose Blueprint Moscatel de Valencia, Spain NV
(£6.49, Waitrose)
Whether you have it in classic Spanish seaside restaurant style as a dessert with some nuts and queso fresco, as a partner for a lemon tart, or simply on its own, this super sweet white is a superb end to a summer meal, the classic muscat aromas and apricot richness tempered by a streak of lemony freshness.
Marks & Spencer Found Feteasca Regala
Transylvania, Romania 2021 (£7, Marks & Spencer)
With its floral, “summer garden in full bloom” nose, feteasca regala is Romania’s answer to muscat and gewurztraminer. In M&S’s version it’s all very clean and elegant, done in a crisp, quaffable, peachy style.
Tesco Finest Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc
Stellenbosch, South Africa 2021 (£7.50, Tesco)
Just as it does in its Loire birthplace, Cape chenin blanc comes in many styles, from the richly, creamily oaked, to the pristine unoaked starburst of tropical and cool northern orchard fruit in this great value example, with its signature tangy apple brightness.
Weinhaus Pinot Gris Urmeer
Rheinhessen, Germany 2021 (£7.99, Waitrose)
Just the thing for partnering a salad of leafy greens, chicken and a citrusy dressing, this German take on pinot gris (AKA pinot grigio) is pitched between Alsace fullness and northern Italian raciness, and flows with ripe fresh pear and racy cool-climate freshness.
Yealands Sauvignon Blanc
Marlborough, New Zealand 2021 (from £9, Asda, Sainsbury’s, The Co-op)
If you thought you might be bored of Marlborough sauvignon, here’s a wine to remind you of the sheer vivacious verdant joy of the best examples of the breed. It positively shimmers with the classic flavours of the style: passionfruit, blackcurrant leaf, and elderflower in excelsis.
Casal de Ventozela Vinho Verde
Vinho Verde, Portugal 2021 (£9.99, or £7.99 as part of a mixed case of six, majestic.co.uk)
The cool green north-west of Iberia is a haven for refreshing and aromatic dry whites on both sides of the Spanish-Portuguese border. This infusion of lemon, lime, grapefruit and white peach is made from the local arinto variety served with a cleansing salty acidity.
Reds/rosés
Chevaliers St-Martin Bordeaux
France 2019 (£5, Morrisons)
Don’t expect Château Lafite. But this cut-price claret does offer a very appealing dose of just-ripe blackcurrant and pencil-shaving flavours in a light and crunchy style with plenty of refreshing acidity that works even better after an hour or so in the fridge.
BEST BUY
Amanti del Vino Primitivo Salento
Puglia, Italy 2020 (from £6.50, adnams.co.uk; hhandc.co.uk; tanners-wines.co.uk)
Brilliant value from Italy’s heel, on the Salento peninsula, a ripe and effortlessly mouth filling red made from the region’s signature variety. With bundles of sweet plummy and dark cherry rich fruit and a refreshing hint of aniseed it’s ideal for burgers and barbecues.
Taste the Difference Languedoc Rouge
IGP Pays d’Oc, France 2020 (£7.50, Sainsbury’s)
This deeply flavoured succulent blend of grenache, syrah and carignan from the stable of the super-reliable high-volume producer Jean-Claude Mas. It’s one of the standouts in the Sainsbury’s range: full of brambly, subtly spicy fruit, it too goes well with barbecue,
Casanova Costa d’Oru Corsican Rosé
Corsica, France 2021 (£7.50, Co-op stores)
Provence sets the template for the modern craze for pastel-shaded pink dry wines, but you generally need a bit more than a tenner for the best examples. Head south to Corsica, however, and you can have all that creamy-strawberry charm, and breezy freshness, at a bargain price.
Waitrose Loved & Found País
Maule, Chile 2020 (£7.99, Waitrose)
It’s hard not to feel cheered by the almost total reinvention of Chile’s país: a grape variety that was shunned by polite vinous society is now behind some of the country’s best lighter reds, old vines here bringing nerve, verve and balance to the lightly spiced, subtly earthy fresh berry fruit.
Fleur de Lise St-Mont Rosé
St-Mont, France 2021 (£8, Marks & Spencer)
One of France’s best-run co-operatives, Plaimont in Gascon, south-west France, is best known for tangy whites and deep, densely flavoured reds, but this rosé was a real standout in M&S’s pink line-up, with a mouthwatering stream of flowing pink grapefruit acidity making it a great match for fish.
Ramón Bilbao Rosado
Rioja, Spain 2021 (£8, Tesco)
Few producers take rosé more seriously than Rioja’s Ramón Bilbao, whose top single-vineyard rosado, Lalomba, is a superbly sophisticated wine. Their skill is no less apparent in their house rosé, which carries its watermelon and strawberry with elegance and panache.
Marks & Spencer Found Zweigelt
Lower Austria, 2021 (£8.50, Marks & Spencer)
Hugely popular in its native Austria, but with a low-enough profile in the UK to qualify for a place in M&S’s generally excellent (and excellent value) “Found” range of lesser-spotted regions and grape varieties, this offers plentiful peppery, sappy black fruit in a juicy, eminently chillable package.
Sparkling
Araldica Moscato d’Asti
Asti, Italy 2021 (£7.99, or £5.99 as part of a mixed case, majestic.co.uk)
There is something joyous about moscato d’asti like this, a wine that feels closer to a kind of heavenly version of muscat grape juice than champagne, filled as it is with sweet melon and peach juiciness and jasmine and orange fragrance, carried along on gently foaming sweetness.
Aldi Organic Prosecco Rosé
Italy 2021 (£8.50, Aldi)
A fun example of the new (at least since the turn of the decade) pink incarnation of Italy’s great sparkling wine success story. This prosecco rosé doesn’t overdo the sticky candied strawberry, offering instead a palate that feels fresh and dry, with a clean-slate finish that leaves you wanting more.
BEST BUY
Taste the Difference Brut Nature Reserva Vintage Cava
Spain 2017 (£9, Sainsbury’s)
Made for Sainsbury’s by one of Cava’s biggest names, Codorníu, this rich and savoury chardonnay-based fizz does a fine job of presenting the style’s Mediterranean charms: there’s real depth of ripe apple, peach and toasty almond notes, honey and a hint of thyme.
Tesco Finest 1531 Blanquette de Limoux
Limoux, Languedoc, France 2020 (£9.50, Tesco)
A reliable and affordable staple of the Tesco fizz range from the historic southern French sparkling wine enclave in the elevated, relatively cool-climate commune of Limoux in the Languedoc, this blend of local mauzac and chenin is full of lipsmacking green-apple crunchiness.
