2007 House Wine, Gers, Domaine Virginie, France, Marks & Spencer, £3.79. Any house serving this tasty white is worth visiting often. The fine, floral, zesty style, made predominantly from colombard and topped up with ugni blanc, over-delivers on fruit and finesse but not on alcohol.

2007 Gamay, Vin de Pays de l’Ardeche, Cave de Saint Désirat, France, Marks & Spencer, £3.79. Brilliant satellite Rhône red from the north-west of the valley made exclusively from the gamay grape and vinified à la beaujolais, hence its wonderful bright, ripe, crunchy, peppery, juicy fruit.

2006 Midsummer Hill, Three Choirs, Gloucestershire, England, The Wine Society (01438 740222), £5.25. This perfect summer apéritif has a light, floral, grapey, hedgerow scent and verdant grassy palate. Made from a blend of hardy seyval blanc,reichensteiner and madeleine angevine.

2006 Stone Brook, Three Choirs, Gloucestershire, England, The Wine Society, £6.50. Celebrate English wine week over the next seven days with this elegant schönburger grape-based white, which is a degree bolder than the Midsummer and overflows with ripe elderflower scents.

2006 Pouilly-Fuissé, Louis Jadot, France, Tesco, £13.99. A surprisingly classy pouilly fuissé with lots of fine, ripe, fat, hazelnutty fruit from a good vintage and a top producer who is responsible for a fifth of this appellation, hence the extra dollop of star quality here.

2006 Santenay Charmes, Roger Belland, France, Tesco, £14.49. Roger Belland is the fifth generation of the Bellands to work at his family’s 23-hectare domaine and this ’06’s delicate, gentle, leafy, gamey spice is what great red burgundy and the pinot noir grape are all about – restraint.

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