Whites

2005 Pouilly Fumé, Domaine Thibault, André Dezat et Fils, France, Tanners (01743 234500), £10.20; Lay & Wheeler (01473 313233), £11.30.

The Dezat family’s lively, leafy and distinctly classy white currant and nettle-stacked pouilly, from their ten-hectare Domaine de Thibault estate, is, like some of the Loire’s smoky, gunflint-scented sauvignons, well capable of ageing. So see if you can resist the temptation of cracking open every bottle you buy this summer.

2005 Bourgogne Chardonnay, Domaine du Pavillon, Albert Bichot, France, Oddbins, £9.99.

Fatter, richer and riper than most bourgogne blanc, and blessed with a wonderful, smoky, toasted-hazelnut scent and elegant palate, this fine white burgundy comes from grapes usually reserved for meursault and is aged partly in new oak. Add in the superb 2005 burgundy vintage, and Albert Bichot’s wine expertise, and it’s clear why this ended up in the Top 100.

2004 Chablis Laurent Tribut, France, Justerini & Brooks (020-7484 6400), £11.26.

Mature chablis, unless you have a cool cellar and know what to lay down, is hard to come by, but this wondrous, fat, rich, nutty, almost butterscotchy, oak-aged white burgundy, stemming from one of the best chablis vintages in recent years and from the family-run, just five-hectare Tribut estate, gives you some of that distinctive chablis flavour.

2006 Pouilly-Vinzelles, Domaine Thibert Père et Fils, France, Waitrose, £9.49.

In the hands of a good grower who has well-sited vines and keeps yields down, the village of Vinzelles, south-east of Pouilly, is doing almost as well as the renowned Pouilly Fuissé, and offers a good-value alternative. So lap up this fine, ripe, appley, herby white burgundy, with plenty of the precocious 2006 vintage’s citrussy, faintly angelica-scented fruit, plus a long, leafy finish.

2005 Viré-Clessé, La Verchère, Christophe Cordier, France, Majestic, £14.99, down to £11.99 each if you buy two until July 5.

Light, lively, floral mâconnais whites do not have the same oomph as those of the Côte Chalonnaise and Côte d’Or to the north. Yet La Verchère is one of Cordier’s and the village of Viré’s best plots, and this fine, ripe, sweet, powerful hazelnut and glacé fruit-charged 2005 really does give you some of the Côte d’Or’s pizzazz at half the price.

2004 Rolly Gassmann, Terroirs des Châteaux Forts, Alsace, France, The Wine Society (01438 737700), £8.25; Cambridge Wine (01223 568991), £10.99.

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