What to drink this summer

Alain Voge’s pithy sparkling wine, Les Bulles d’Alain, is unlike anything else we have on our list. It is lively, dry, refreshing, and refined. If you’re in the mood for bubbles, but don’t want the weight of a Champagne, this is the perfect option, and a smart price too. It’s a very good example of why Saint-Péray has built its renown for sparkling wines.

Sommerberg is the steep 19 hectare grand cru hillside that rises up behind the village of Niedermorschwihr, where the Boxler cellar is located. Indeed, Sommerberg is synonymous with Boxler: his is the most famous and celebrated iteration of the vineyard. The ‘young vines’ here are actually 35 years old, and produce a wine with a fresh, juicy tension. The 2017 has notes of lime blossom, sea breeze and fresh peaches on the nose, with taut freshness , and an energetic drive to a long and elegant finish.

2009 is quite rightly celebrated as a top vintage in Bordeaux, known for generous fruit and weight. Lovely blackcurrant, black plum and red cherry fruit here, with spicy, peppery notes on the nose and rich, mocha on the palate with a velvet texture. There's great balance with a tensile, mineral seam running through it and matching the intensity of the fruit.

This 100% Merlot is juicy, pure and sumptuous. Here, clay soils retained moisture throughout the long dry summer of 2016, meaning that this has remained balanced and fresh. With a long, well-defined finish, this is surely the best Marsau ever.

The 2015 Raymond Lafon is a brilliant Sauternes. Notes of saffron and green pineapple on the nose give way to a spicy palate of so much poise and finesse. There’s a richness here, but also a focus and savouriness that makes it oh-so-easy to drink. Brilliantly done, from a hidden gem of Sauternes.

This salty, expressive white from this enterprising estate in Languedoc offers outstanding value for money. Aromas of fresh white flowers and the salty spray of the Mediterranean make this citrus scented white the perfect aperitif. Balanced, refreshing, unfussy and delicious.

Claudie’s father, in his days of running a plant nursery with access to a huge range of plant material, planted seven different clones of Pinot Noir in this 2.5 hectare site. Now at 45 years old, this diversity, twinned with the quality of vineyard husbandry, means the vineyard is thriving. The different clones call for pruning and harvesting at different times, but it’s an effort worth making, as the wine is texturally sophisticated, juicy, and full of Pinot nuance. So balanced and extremely drinkable.

A small amount of grapes that go into this wine come from Graeme and Julie's back garden - classified Condrieu terroir, and the kick-starter for building their own domaine. The 2018 is full of sweet, floral, honey notes. The palate is fleshy, clean, and with a silky flow. This is a stunning Condrieu, and indicative of the brilliant talent at this new domaine.

This Nuits premier cru combines the sweet red fruit of the 2013 vintage and the savoury structure of the commune. As it has evolved in bottle it has developed complex sous-bois aromas of undergrowth, spice, and leather, still with its Pinot red berry fruit driving along to a long, elegant finish. It is cool and understated, with particularly fine tannins supported by a little oak that integrates seamlessly.

This parcel of young vines (around 15 years old) lies right next to Marcel’s house. He says it’s a wine to open and enjoy young. Given what good value it is you certainly can get stuck in. It has a bright and fruity character, with the vintage’s wonderful natural freshness.

Pieuchaud is a flinty-soiled lieu-dit in the commune of Thauvenay in the south-east of the Sancerre appellation. Luc decided to isolate this vineyard after noting it always produced fruit with great maturity whilst maintaining high acidity - the secret to single vineyard wines in his opinion. In 2019 it is smoky, restrained, agile, and subtle. It would do well for a few years in the cellar, and its saline, savoury structure will make it an excellent food wine in the years to come. Tightly coiled and highly charged.

85 year old vines, with a few of 60 years old, this has ginger and spice, and plenty of elegance. This is nervy and focussed, with lovely texture and purity.

This is so much more than your average Côtes du Rhône. It comes from the vines that surround the cellar, sitting just beyond the northern border of Châteauneuf. It is so textured and fresh, with energy, purity, and density. Its juicy red fruits combine with a lovely salty minerality making for a charming, drinkable style.

This beautiful property was bought by Jérôme in 2007. He says that, as well as a perfect place to grow vines, it’s also the ultimate picnic spot, where the family like to shuck oysters with a bottle of the château’s delicious wine. Precise and refreshing, with a citrus, floral nose. The sur lie ageing gives it a fine texture and a lively freshness which are so well expressed in this light-bodied, paradigm Muscadet.

This comes from many parcels dotted around the central and southern part of the appellation. Sylvain intelligently handles his fruit: the young vine bunches are destemmed, while the older vines’ stems are kept intact, combining them to produce a highly juicy, perfumed style. A glossy style bursting with fruit.

These vines are grown on sandstone soils, and are picked around 10 days after La Jalousie, when the skins are a little thicker and beginning to turn golden brown. The wine is aged for 18 months in demi-muids, and the result is a wine that so perfectly captures the essence of Chenin Blanc. This is all crisp russet apple with just a hint of nutty complexity emerging. The palate is, whilst arresting in its freshness, also so silky in texture - a quality Evelyne says is typical of Les Caillardières. This is the dark horse of the Closel cellar: one to drink before the Clos du Papillon perhaps, but capably of giving as much enjoyment from its complex layer.

This is a blend of four parcels, with a high proportion of fruit from vines older than 50 years. It is smooth and fruity. Its brightness is piqued with a fine line of pithy bitterness. This is a great example of the appellation, and has taken on some definition and drive from its first year in bottle. This is so refreshing and quenching.

This Bag-in-box Rosé is back by popular demand. It’s beautifully packaged, offers amazing value for money and has superb environmental credentials (with a much lighter carbon footprint than glass, and is 100% recyclable). Moreover, the wine itself is delicious: a dry, delicate rosé, with a fruity and fresh red berry nose and a salty freshness on the palate. You could easily mistake this for a bona fide Côtes de Provence. The wine will stay fresh and vibrant for at least a month from first opening. In this format, it offers unbeatable value for money. Dimensions: 19x19x19cm.

La Londe is unusual in the Côtes de Provence for warranting its own appellation. It applies only to the best sites between Toulon and St Tropez, close to the coast, facing the dazzling Porquerolle islands. Here, the schiste soils and cooling sea breeze combine to make the most elegant and sophisticated of the region’s rosés. This is the top wine from the Combard family, made from the domaine’s organically-farmed grapes, selected and vinified by parcel with meticulous attention to detail. It is fine-boned and subtle, ethereal and enticing, and shows just what the best terroirs of Provence are capable of.

Les Filles has earned a cult following. Each year the humorous label changes, and many of the 2016's predecessors have become collector's items. The wine is made from Bergeron, which is the local Savoie name for Roussanne. It shares much of the peachy, stone fruit ripeness you'd find in the Rhône, but with a verve all of its own. It is rich, bright, vibrant, and superbly long. Its weight and poise make it a great match with food. Gilles Berlioz is a passionate practicioner of organic farming and a benchmark producer in the Savoie.

A bottling that pushes the boundaries of what high-quality Beaujolais can be: grapes spend an enormous seven months macerating in large clay amphorae, creating a textured, explosive wine that’s spectacularly delicious.

This is made from the Chasselas grape, the lesser-known variety of Pouilly, with only a handful of hectares remaining today. Jonathan’s is one of the best examples: refined and floral, juicy and refreshing. What it lacks in Sauvignon Blanc’s razor sharp edges it gains in its delicate proportions.

This is the flagship wine of the estate, and offers the best of Muscadet: pale lemon yellow, a little citrus and blossom on the nose, an elegant, defined length, with some savoury structure from lees ageing bringing it all together. This is an absolutely charming Muscadet. It bursts with lemons and limes, and has such a refreshing tension.

This is made from various parcels of old vines that are all located on the hillsides, with good drainage. This is a benchmark Chinon that has flourished in the 2019 vintage. There is nicely fragrant red fruit on the nose, with a touch of graphite and seaweed, giving it an iodine edge. The palate has a spicy, lightly herbaceous weight and fine, firm tannins, with lovely acidity.