Champagne Piper-Heidsieck Brut NV (£30.99 Waitrose)
Dainty, lively wine, with pineapple flavours and biscuity richness kept in check by taut apple and citrus acidity. Classy and elegant, very tasty. S(+)
Tagus Creek Chardonnay/Fernão Pires 2012, Tejo (£5.99 Tesco, Asda)
Simple, slight Alka Seltzer fizz, combining pithy lemon with a richer toffee and peach note, just slightly simple. C+
Tagus Creek Shiraz/Touriga Nacional Rosé 2011, Tejo (£5.99 Asda)
I don’t mind the rosehip syrup and berry flavours, but the boiled sweet/tinned fruit syrup character speaks of a wine that lacks freshness and bite. C(+)
Graham’s Crusted Port NV, bottled 2006 (£17.99-£20.00 Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, Tesco)
Combines hearty, friendly berry, plum, damson and violet flavours with earthy tannins and fresh acidity. Good now, but all in place to develop further. S
Dominic Hentall Saint Véran 2010, Burgundy, France (£15.99 Naked Wines)
Good mix of zesty citrus freshness with a softer, rounded cooked apple character, plus a slightly dough-like character reminiscent of undercooked cake mix. B
Domain Parigot Meursault ‘Les Vireuils Dessous’ 2010, Burgundy, France (£32.99 The Perfect Cellar)
Lean and lovely, with precise, poised apple and lemon flavours combining with a salty spent match note and some toasty oak, and a light floral edge as well. Delicious now, but the way it improves in the glass suggests a promising future. S+
Louis Latour Château de Blagny Meursault Blagny 1er Cru 2009, Burgundy, France (£29.99 Majestic)
It feels like there are 2 wines here. I like the taut minerally tang of the lively fresh part, but there’s also fatter, more clumsy, cheesy edge. Watched this over three days, and this stand-off never resolved itself. B+
Hahn Chardonnay 2011, Monterey, California (£12.99-£13.99 Spirited Wines, Wine Rack, Waitrose)
Friendly but simple style, spoiled by the sort of crude vanilla sweetness that went out of fashion in the mid-1990s. C
De Martino 347 Chardonnay 2010, Limarí, Chile (£9.99 Virgin Wines)
Pleasant enough, crisp and fresh, with a green tang to the slightly jelly-like citrus flavours, but it’s just too simple for real class. B-
Champagne Jacquart Rosé NV, France (£27.95 Slurp.co.uk, Great Western Wine)
Quite subtle with some biscuit maturity to its raspberry and strawberry flavours, an elegant style, but given richness by a level of dosage which may be a touch to high for some. B+
Purato Cataratto/Pinot Grigio IGT Sicilia 2011 (£6.99-£7.99 Ocado, Rhythm & Booze)
Attractive honest juicy gluggable style, lively peachy fruit with a slightly smoky citrus bite and a touch of walnut skins, not too complex but satisfying. B+
The Society’s Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico 2011, Marches (£6.25 The Wine Society)
Combines rounded creamy/nutty flavours, with leaner citrussy acidity, and adds in a fresh soft apple character too. B+
Guerrieri Rizzardi Costeggiola Soave Classico 2011, Veneto (£14.99 Fortnum & Mason)
I like the rounded rich honesty and fresh finish, but I miss the herby Soave edge – the Chardonnay certainly contributes peachy but it tramples over the rest of the wine. B
Piccini Memoro Vino Blanco d’Italia NV (£9.49 Tesco)
With its big pineapple chunk and cling peach fruit and smoky oak, this is almost like early 1990s Aussie Sem/Chard. Does have some freshness but overall too big, too rich, too oily. B-
Les Pionniers Champagne 2004 (£25.99 Co-operative)
Young, lively and fresh style with broad, rich citrus fruit flavours and a green apple bite, not huge complexity, but a rich, honest juicy style. B(+)
Champagne Duménil Brut Millésime 2004 (N/A in the UK)
Smells as if it’s going to be quite sleek and elegant, with notes of brioche, crystallised pineapple, citrus and apple, but actually quite full in body, with additional notes of chocolate and coffee, all kept in check by precise freshness and acidity. S
Champagne Duménil Cuvée Prestige Vieilles Vignes Brut NV (N/A in the UK)
Pale and very interesting style, combing the svelte edge of Chardonnay with nutty/toasty richness. Plenty of flavour – walnut, pear, peach, pineapple, very ripe apples – but again with elegance. Good for shellfish. S(-)
Champagne Duménil Amour de Cuvée Blanc de Noirs Brut NV (N/A in the UK)
Quite rich and full bodied, with a peppery note to the red berry and pineapple flavours, and a touch of gingerbread too. Very wine-y style of Champagne, would be great with some game. S-
Viñalba Reserva Chardonnay 2012, Mendoza, Argentina (£10.99 Majestic)
Weighs in at 14.5% but it carries it well, with perky peach and plumper melon flavours pepped up by a slightly nutty note. Like a rounder Mâcon wine. B(-)
Panamera Chardonnay 2011, California (N/A in the UK)
Slightly stolid style, with not enough freshness to counterbalance the smoky oak and viscous pineapple chunk flavours – feels like last year’s wine. C-
Silva Family Wines Chardonnay/Semillon 2011, Colchagua, Chile (£7-8.95 Avery’s, Wine Rack)
Has an almost Sauvignon-like herby freshness, which sits very happily with the peachier, nuttier Chardonnay flesh. Easy to drink but a tad simple. C
White Rhino Chardonnay 2011, Western Cape, South Africa (£6.49 The Drink Shop)
Hardly any aroma beyond sulphur dioxide, clean and vaguely crisp, but unmemorable. 0
Fratelli Chardonnay 2011, Maharashtra, India (contact Hallgarten Druitt)
Simple, but honest and tasty, with a spicy/herby note to the fresh lemon and green apple flavours. C+
Chapel Down Rosé Brut NV (£22.99 Majestic, chapeldown.com, simplywinesdirect.com, slurp.co.uk)
Reasonable citrus, apple and red berry notes, but there’s a smoky elderflower note that speaks of underripeness, and a slightly burnt edge too. C+
Chapel Down Three Graces 2008 (£24.99 chapeldown.com)
This is more like it, lovely balanced style, combining a toasty, caramelised richness with the tang of Bramley apples (fresh and stewed), lemon and grapefruit, and finishing with crisp, elegant aplomb. S
Chapel Down Blanc de Blancs 2007 (RRP £26.99 Harvey Nichols, chapeldown.com)
Svelte style, lean but never scrawny, and with a smoky note to its juicy green apple and citrus flesh. S
Chapel Down Pinot Reserve 2006 (£22.99 chapeldown.com, Berry Bros & Rudd, simplywinesdirect.com, slurp.co.uk)
Quite bready and rich, but while I don’t mind the cooked apple and pear flavours and citrus bite, it seems just a little stolid after the two previous wines. B
Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis 2011 (£13 Oddbins)
Classic Chablis with rich flavours – blood orange, apple and even a touch of cranberry – and sleek minerally structure. Tasty now, but good for 3+ years. S
Albert Bichot Saint Romain 2010 (£16.75 Oddbins – link is to the 2009)
Honest, fresh pear, pineapple and stone fruit flavours, quite rich but with a spine of acidity to keep it all fresh. Tasty but just a tad simple for real class. S-
Louis Latour Beaune Blanc 2009 (£19.35 slurp.co.uk)
As with the Pouilly Vinzelles, this is rounded and quite rich but it’s a struggle to coax out much character. An OK drink, but not much beyond the (decent) winemaking. B(-)
Golden Valley Grasevina 2011, Slavonija (£8.99 Marks & Spencer)
Gewurz meets Riesling, floral and musky with lychee, grapefruit and lemon fruit, touches of herbs and ginger, and a zesty finish. B(+)
Pilato Malvazija Istarska 2011, Istria (£12.49 Marks & Spencer)
Majors on fleshy texture rather than out and out fruit flavour, but there’s a decent amount of nutty, peachy weight, and fresh floral, herby notes on the finish. B+
Cattunar Chardonnay 2010, Istria (£16 Pacta Connect, The Vineyard, The VinBin, Market Row Wines)
Like a Mâconnais wine with some old-fashioned Aussie Chardonnay thrown in. Honeyed apple crumble, tinned pineapple and red berry flavours, with notes of butterscotch and vanilla, fresh but too plump and simple for real class. B-
Bolfan Libertin Pinot Sivi 2010 (£10.95 Jascots)
Or Pinot Gris as it’s better known. With its smoky, musky pear, peach and walnut flavours, touch of elderflower and broad finish, it reminds me more of another Alsace grape: Sylvaner. S-
Bolfan Primus Rajnski Rizling 2009 (£10.95 Jascots)
There’s a wonderful tension here between the minerally citrus flavours and the weightier floral/vanilla characters. A touch of botrytis seems to be adding a softer honeyed edge, but it’s all reined in by that steely backbone. Very good wine. S
