2007 Centellito Verdejo, Rueda, Spain, Majestic Wine, £5.99 or buy two for £4.49 each. Terrific new-wave Spanish white from Rueda made from the zesty verdejo grape and oozing with lively lime and lemon peel-spiked fruit. Its crisp, vibrant style would have been unthinkable 20 years ago.

2006 Fuentespina Tempranillo Granate, Ribera del Duero, Spain, Majestic Wine, £6.65 or buy two for £4.99 each. North-east of Rueda lies Ribera del Duero, where tempranillo, Spain’s best, delivered this gorgeous ripe, spicy, oaky red with plenty of plump, plummy fruit.

2007 Maven Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand, Wine Rack, £9.99 or buy three for £6.66 each. Arresting label, arresting wine. It’s every bit as zippy as the first Maven sauvignon vintage I tasted last year and oozes with powerful nettle, herb and tropical fruit flavours.

2006 Maven Chardonnay, Marlborough, New Zealand, Wine Rack, £9.99 or buy three for £6.66 each. The first Maven chardonnay I’ve tasted – ‘05 was Maven’s first small crop of this grape – and what a corker it is: 14 per cent alcohol and heaving with fine, verdant, tangy, oaky, appley fruit.

2005 Gewürztraminer Réserve, Vin d’Alsace, Cave Vinicole à Hunawihr, France, Liberty Wines (020-7720 5350), £9.49. Screwcap whites are on the rise and this joyous, fat, waxy ‘05 is blessed with lots of peach and lychee spice. Chilled, it goes down well with oriental dishes.

2006 Crozes-Hermitage, Les Jalets, Paul Jaboulet Aîné, Rhône, France, Liberty Wines, £11.99. Jaboulet’s crozes used to cost a lot less. Never mind, this superior bottling has all the lively, inky, plummy, peppery fruit you’d expect from a top southern Rhône vintage and leading producer.

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