2007 Cuvée Pêcheur, Vin de Pays du Comté Tolosan, France, Waitrose, £3.69. Not much sub-£4 now, but Waitrose has come up trumps with this cheap French duo. This Gascon white, bursting with grassy, leafy, celery-scented style, is made from 50-50 colombard and ugni blanc grapes.

2007 Cuvée Chasseur, Vin de Pays de l’Hérault, France, Waitrose, £3.29. The 2007 vintage in the Languedoc was one of its best and this two-thirds carignan, one-third grenache blend, from close to Carcassonne, delivers lots of unoaked, easy-swigging, soft, ripe, plummy spice.

2007 Finest Block 3 Pinot Grigio, South Eastern Australia, Tesco, £6.19. Australia is not the first country pinot grigio fans would expect their modish white to come from, but this fine, leafy, floral ’07 delivers lots of sunny fruit, and is night-harvested from Block 3, a superior, single-vineyard slope.

2006 Finest Nero d’Avola, Cantine Settesoli, Sicily, Italy, Tesco, £6.13. Cantine Settesoli is one of Sicily’s star turns, and this impressive 100 per cent nero d’avola from the great 2006 vintage shows why, all fine, fat, dark, chocolate and plum pizzazz.

2006 Pouilly-Fuissé, Vieilles Vignes Terroir de Solutré, Domaine des Gerbeaux, France, Berry Bros & Rudd (01256 340182), £13.50. A single domaine Mâconnais from one of the best spots, Solutré – a light, floral, lemony ’06 oozing rich, hazelnutty, white burgundy elegance.

2005 Moulin à Vent, La Roche-Vineuse, Merlin, France, Berry Bros & Rudd, £13.95. Olivier Merlin’s brilliant beaujolais have popped up in this column before. This rich, plump, plummy gamay with lots of fine, juicy, summer pudding fruit comes from a great vintage, 2005, and it shows.

Times Recommends

• Britain's Top 20 seaside fish and chip shops
• Ice cream makers: the scoop of the century
• British berries make super sorbets