Refreshing, thirst-quenching, distinctive: 20 best wines for the summer

Whites

The Wine Atlas Carricante Terre Siciliane
Sicily, Italy 2023 (£6.50, Asda )
Sicily’s Carricante is one of Italy’s most distinctive grapes. It’s at its scintillating best on the slopes of Mount Etna, but this example, from vineyards lower on the island, is brilliant value: softly peachy and gently incisive.

Waitrose Blueprint Dry German Riesling
Mosel, Germany 2023 (£8.49, Waitrose )
With its modest (11% abv) alcohol and stream-over-stones ripple of cool, fluent acidity, this is a classic modern Mosel riesling. A barely perceptible cushion of sugar means it pairs well with mild chilli spice.

Tesco Finest Torrontés
North-west Argentina 2023 (£8.50, Tesco )
Like gewurztraminer, torrontés’s full-on floral perfume is not to everyone’s taste. But this example, made by top Argentinian producer Catena, is more summer garden than boudoir with a compelling zip and freshness.

Bodegas la Purísima La Purísima Blanco
Yecla, Spain 2023 (from £9.89, allaboutwine.com ; greatwinesdirect.co.uk ; aitkenwines.com )
From a corner of south-eastern Spain more associated with reds than whites, this charming good-value blend of macabeo and sauvignon blanc from high-altitude vines has a winning combination of fleshy stone fruit and ripe lemon citrus.

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Muscadet Sèvre et Maine
Loire, France 2023 (£10.50, Sainsbury’s )
It makes sense that good muscadet should pair so well with shellfish. This, from vineyards around the Loire estuary near Nantes, is a delightfully ripe, clean, super-crisp version with a subtly salty, bright citrus finish.

Circumstance Sauvignon Blanc by Waterkloof
Stellenbosch, South Africa 2023 (from £12.50, henningswines.co.uk ; fieldandfawcett.co.uk )
Few wines are more coolly refreshing than sauvignon blanc, with its shady, verdant riverbank feel, and this luminously compelling South African version adds a little extra limey brightness and sea-breezy freshness to the mouthwatering mix.

Funkstille Skin Contact
Niederösterreich, Austria 2023
(from £13.49, haywines.co.uk ; connollyswine.co.uk ; stroudwine.com ; thefinewinecompany.co.uk
Austrian winemakers have a real knack for orange wines, with the local white grüner veltliner variety seeming to respond especially well to extended skin contact, producing, in this case, deliciously gingery spice and tangy tropical fruit.

Kumeu River Estate Chardonnay
Auckland, New Zealand 2022
(from £25.80, secretbottleshop.co.uk ; leasandeman.co.uk ; noblegrape.co.uk )
A treat of a bottle from one of New Zealand’s best producers, and one of the world’s finest and most consistent exponents of the chardonnay grape: chiselled and fine boned, with subtle toasty savouriness and a burst of fresh, ripe apple.

Reds

Des Tourelles Claret
Bordeaux, France 2022
(£5.49, Tesco )
We might think of Bordeaux as the home of expensive “grands vins” designed for cellaring and savouring, but it also does a neat line in crunchy, fresh, drinkable young wines like this, which work so well chilled for summer.

Incanta Pinot Noir
Romania 2022
(£9.99, or £7.99 in a mixed case of six, majestic.co.uk )
Romania’s Cramele Recaș has cornered the market in sub-£10 versions of that most luxurious of red grape varieties, pinot noir. This is one of the firm’s best: a burst of berry-juicy joy with a sprinkling of sweet spice.

Extra Special Great Western Shiraz
Victoria, Australia 2021
(£9.50, Asda )
Something about the spiciness and savoury meatiness of shiraz makes it particularly good with meat and aubergine from the barbecue. This Victorian is brilliantly done: combining fragrant floral prettiness with deep, pepper-spiced blackberry.

Domaine de la Noblaie Les Temps de Cerises
Chinon, Loire, France 2023
(£12.95, thewinesociety.com )
No list of recommendations of summer red wines is complete without a cabernet franc from the Loire, and here is a paradigmatic example of the style’s maximally refreshing charms: cherries, raspberries, blackcurrants and a cool hint of graphite.

Caliterra Pétreo Carmenère
Colchagua Valley, Chile 2021
(from £13.45, nywines.co.uk ; latitudewine.co.uk ; ndjohn.co.uk )
Chile’s winemakers have of late really started to make the most of carmenère, originally from Bordeaux, and for years confused with merlot. Restraint is the operative word in this sappy, summer pudding-fruity, herbal-scented delight.

Clos de la Roilette Fleurie
Beaujolais, France 2022
(from £14.95, thewinesociety.com ; leaandsandeman.co.uk )
The Fleurie cru is renowned for making some of Beaujolais’ prettiest wines, and Clos de la Roilette certainly ticks that box, while also adding an irresistibly succulent core of cherries and raspberries and mineral length beneath the violet-floral nose.

Tetramythos Agiorgitiko
Peloponnese, Greece 2023
(£18, shrinetothevine.co.uk )
Greek wine is getting better by the vintage and, happily, it’s also getting more accessible in the UK. This is a vividly red-fruited example of Greece’s very own agiorgitiko grape, with a tangy dry finish that makes it a supremely versatile partner for mezes.

La Cayetana Cabernet Franc
Los Chacayes, Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina 2020
(£27.25, thewhiskyexchange.com )
Argentina may be best known for malbec, but some of its finest wines are made from the more structured, leafy-fresh cabernet franc, which seems to thrive in high-altitude conditions. La Cayetana’s example is flat-out gorgeous: polished, fine, with perfectly ripe fruit.

Fizz

Bersano Monteolivo Moscato d’Asti
Piedmont, Italy 2023 (£9.99, Waitrose )
One of summer’s simplest pleasures, and one of the least time-consuming desserts to prepare, is a big bowl of strawberries, a pot of cream. Pair with this bottle of sweet, gently fizzy, blossom, pear and muscat grape-scented moscato d’Asti.

Calçada Wines Portal da Calçada Espumante de Vinho Verde DOC Brut (from £11.95, aitkenwines.com ; cellardoorwines.co.uk )
Most of us know how good vinho verde’s light, gently spritzy, pleasingly sour white wines can be. But northern Portugal also makes some refreshing fully sparkling wines, and, as is the case here, they can be outstandingly good value.

Ayala Brut Nature Champagne
France NV (from £33.95, ndjohn.co.uk ; thewhiskyexchange.com ; champagnedirect.co.uk )
In the heat of the summer, the champagnes offering maximum refreshment are usually the properly dry “brut nature” or “zero dosage” wines that are made without added sugar. Ayala’s stylish cuvée is pristine, fluent, unerringly thirst-quenching.

Roebuck Estate Rosé de Noirs
Sussex, England 2018 (£42, roebuckestates.co.uk )
When English sparkling winemakers get it right, I’m not sure anywhere in the world is better at rosé fizz. And with this graceful, fine-bubbled, red apple-infused example from a fine vintage, West Sussex-based Roebuck Estate has certainly got it right.