CityLife

Summer wines: The lowdown

LOVELY DROP: Domaine de Mourchon

TWO thirds grenache, one third syrah, Domaine de Mourchon Grande Reserve 2004 is classic Cotes du Rhone Villages.

It is sourced from extremely low-yielding 60-year-old vines near the village of Seguret.

At £15.70 from Manchester’s Smithfield Wines (smithfieldwine.com), it is not cheap, but sniff its spicy nose and taste its dark fruit with hints of liquorice, jam and vanilla and you’ll discover its worth it. One for the grouse in your life, now the Glorious 12th is past!

A red just as enticing, at half the price, is Vinalba Malbec/Syrah (Asda, £7.45) from Patagonia. It won Best Argentinean Red at last year’s International Wine Challenge for its package of plums, cherries and chocolate in a glass.

New Zealand’s Wild Rock Gravel Pit Red 2007 combines malbec with merlot to create a similar style, with dark black fruits and a whiff of cocoa.

The grapes are grown in the Gimblett Gravels region, which sounds like a grizzled sheep farmer but is, in fact, the North Island’s prime red territory. The second wine of the terrific Craggy Ranges stable, it is available from Waitrose and Majestic at £11.99.

New Zealand’s whites still offer some of the best value around. Nobilo’s Limited Release Sauvignon Blanc retails for a recommended £9.99 in Tesco and Morrisons (with a fiver off in Morrisons until the end of the month).

Gooseberryish

Nice crisp gooseberryish stuff but not a patch on fellow Kiwi Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc Private Bin 2009, widely available tropical fruit overload, from £8.49.

An Australian alternative is McGuigan Sauvignon Blanc 2008 (Majestic, £6.99), quite melony and approachable.

For an alternative white to the ubiquitous sauvignon, go to Oddbins, who are stocking the classic Muscadet de Sevres Et Maine, Domaine de la Foliette 2008 for £7.99. It is made according to the classic Loire procedure called “sur lie” , in which the sediment remains in the wine during the fermentation process.

Seafood-friendly

This soft, fresh wine (with a nice slash of seafood-friendly acidity) trumpets itself as a product of Agriculture Raisonnée, committed to preserving the health of the soil. It also tastes nice!

A different white beast altogether, McHenry Hohnen Vintners 3 Amigos 2006 (widely available, £10), from Western Australia, combines three amicable varietals, Marsanne, Chardonnay and Rousanne, using barrel fermentation and ageing on the lees to produce an elegant white with scents of dried apricot and apple and a long, heady, spicy flavour.

In contrast, Waitrose’s Casillero del Diablo Chardonnay 2006 offers typical Chilean tropical fruit and vanilla flavours for £7.49. One-dimensional but attractive.

Errazuriz are a couple of step-ups in the Chilean pecking order. While their cold-fermented, aged sur lie Sauvignon Blanc 2008 from Casablanca (Majestic, Thresher, Wine Rack Oddbins, £7.99) provides a fruity refresher, their Errazuriz Single Vineyard Gewurztraminer 2007 offers an entire pot-pourri in the glass, from lavender and honey on the nose to a long floral, complex aftertaste.

It will cost you £9.99 from Thresher and the associated Wine Rack, but it is well worth the punt.