2007 Finest Gavi, Piemonte, Fratelli Martini, Italy, Tesco, down to £4.99 until July 29. One of the bankers of Tesco’s Finest range is this juicy Italian wine made from hand-harvested cortese grapes, with a small portion barrel-aged to deliver a fine, nutty, peachy, bargain-buy summer white.

2006 Seigneur d’Albret, Médoc, Bordeaux, France, Tesco, down to £5.49 until July 29. Good claret for not much more than a fiver helps every holiday budget, and this two-thirds cabernet sauvignon to one-third merlot ’06 from leading négociant Yvon Mau oozes with tasty, ripe, herby fruit.

2007 Côtes de Provence, Carte Noire Rosé, Maîtres Vignerons de la Presqu’île de Saint-Tropez, France, Nicolas, £9.50. Provençal rosé looks pretty but often tastes dire, in part due to its unforgiving bone-dry style, but this consistently good exception from the St Tropez co-op bursts with ripe, seductive, grapey, peppery grenache fruit.

2007 Mâcon Rouge, Terroir Mâconnais, France, Nicolas, down to £6.49 until July 29. While in Nicolas, pick up this light summer quaffer from Mâconnais – a region better known for its white burgundies, yet this zesty, vibrant, plummy red with a fine verdant finish is easily worth the price asked.

2006 Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, Rhône, Domaine de Durban, France, Berry, Bros & Rudd (01256 340182), £14.95. Muscat is simple, peachy stuff, but for those who cannot get enough, this luscious, glacé fruit and orange peel-charged, vintage-dated, single domaine bottle is what you should buy.

2005 Vacqueyras, Garrigues, Rhône, Domaine Montirius, France, Berry, Bros & Rudd, £12.25. If gigondas is a mini- châteauneuf, then vacqueyras is a mini- gigondas, with much of the appellation’s warm, grenache spice plus, here, topped up with fat, 14 per cent alcohol syrah fruit.

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