Five flavoursome white wines to herald summer

One of the most well-known white grape varieties worldwide is Chardonnay, yet it is still sometimes misunderstood. “I hate Chardonnay, but I love Chablis” is a comment I have heard over and over. Chablis is in fact 100% Chardonnay! Being a very versatile variety, it is now grown in virtually every wine growing region of the world, adapting to different climates and different soils. Both of these, of course, affect the flavour and character of the resulting wine, giving rise to a wide range of different styles.

On top of this, Chardonnay can react well to treatment with oak, either in fermentation or maturation, or both, again producing different styles of wine. Done well, oak treatment can enhance the flavours of Chardonnay, rather than overpowering them. Hopefully gone are the days of over-oaked, thin Chardonnay, where low quality wine had been subjected to a mass of oak chips, rather than the subtlety of a coppered oak barrel.

So three of my five wines are Chardonnays, all with different characters and styles. Louis Jadot Chablis 2021 Cellier du Valvan is an unoaked, classy chardonnay from the Northern part of Burgundy – the home of Chardonnay. Crisp, creamy, medium bodied and elegant with stone fruit flavours and a long finish. Ocado £21.

A chardonnay with slightly more tropical flavours is Journeys End The Organist 2021 from the foothills of the Hottentot Mountains near False Bay in South Africa. A fresh, fruit driven wine with layers of citrus peel, melon and peach, a diligently crafted fruit-driven wine. Ocado £26.

The third Chardonnay comes from a producer in Chile, who in my opinion the best. Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Chardonnay 2020 is an exceptional Burgundian style white, with careful use of French oak to produce a wine of class and elegance, with a very long finish. Coastal vineyards only a few miles from the Pacific Ocean temper the summer heat, giving the grapes fine aromatics and excellent balancing acidity. £17.50 from online Taurus Wine and Oxford Wine.

Another interesting wine from the same producer is Errazuriz Pinot Grigio Reserva 2021, the vineyards situated further inland in the Aconcagua Valley, the warmer climate suiting this variety, more often encountered in Italy. Pleasantly fruity with intense apple and pear aromas and citrus notes, producing a delicious interpretation of this grape variety. Find it on Amazon at £10.80.

The last of my five early Summer whites is from another well-known grape variety – Sauvignon Blanc. Seaspray 2021 from the marvellous Villa Maria is a Single Vineyard wine with great character and personality. The vineyard lies against the rugged Eastern coastline of the Awatere Valley, where the fresh ocean air slows the growing season, producing a Sauvignon Blanc with incredible power and intensity. Less tropical than many sauvignons from New Zealand, tending towards a fruitier style of Sancerre in style. Perfect with an asparagus quiche! £18.55 from Majestic.