Summer Sips

With today’s official start of British Summer Time, I’m backing light, bright Italian whites to quench and refresh. With some 20 administrative regions and a dizzying range of flagship wines, plus climates ranging from baking-hot beaches to cool Alpine peaks, my tip is to explore by grape variety as well as place. Once you fall in love with a flavour, you can expand into the region, the food pairings and the producers.

Specially Selected Italian Lugana 2020 (13%), £6.99, Aldi. Mountain purity. This is as fresh as a peach rolling down a sunbeam. Ace value.

Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico 2020 (13%), £7, M&S. An apple chiselled from ice: grippy gorgeousness and lovely all-round refreshment.

Loved & Found Roero Arneis 2020 (13%), £7.99, Waitrose. A zinger! Lemon spliced with pineapple. A cracking white with bite.

Santodeno Grillo 2020 (12.5%), £9, Sainsbury’s. As relaxing as a cool breeze of citrus blossom, this is top notch to unwind with.

This article was originally published in YOU Magazine, Mail on Sunday, 27th March 2022 – Prices, stockists and vintages correct at time of publication.



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