Claret, Yvon Mau, Bordeaux, France, Tesco, £2.98. Sub-£3ers are a dying breed, so drown your sorrows by scooping up as much of this gentle, spicy, herby, plummy non-vintage claret – equal parts merlot and cabernet sauvignon, topped up with a dollop of cabernet franc – while you can.

2007 Vieille Fontaine White, France, Tesco, £3.40. Sub-£4ers should switch swiftly from the now tiring ‘06 white French vintage to the young, perky ‘07s, such as this precocious, peardrop and pineapple-laden, colombard grape-dominant Gascon white from the leading Plaimont co-op.

2007 La Grille Cool-Fermented Chenin Blanc, Anjou, Gwénaël Guihard, France, Majestic, £5.99 or buy two for £4.99 each. My kind of spring-into-summer aperitif white, all seductive, ripe, grapey, floral, off-dry, appley fruit, which will go down well with roast pork, crackling and apple sauce.

2005 Chénas, Cave du Château de Chénas, Beaujolais, France, Majestic, £8.49 or buy two for £6.79 each. Majestic does not have much more than 300 cases left of this gorgeous, ripe, velvety, plummy beaujolais with lots of seductive, sweet, silky fruit, so snap it up.

2006 Morgon, Côte du Py, Beaujolais, France, Les Caves de Pyrene, £15.80. Beaujolais is one of the few reds that is a joy to drink on warm days and de rigueur on hot ones, so dive into this glorious, ripe, zesty, gamey morgon, the boldest of all the superior single village or cru beaujolais.

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