Wines Of The Week

White 1998 MontGras Chardonnay Reserva, Colchagua Valley, £5.99, Sainsbury's.

The delicately toasty, aromatic character derived from fermentation and stirring of the grape lees in small oak casks gives this accomplished Chilean chardonnay from MontGras' pioneering winery a degree of richness and complexity, which is held in check by a crisp aftertaste.

Red 1999 Finca El Retiro Malbec, Mendoza, £5.49, Waitrose

Showing the vibrant pluminess of the excellent 1999 vintage, this perfumed red from Mendoza's Tittarelli family is liberally fleshed out with the kind of plush mulberry-like fruit attained by the malbec grape only in Argentina's warm, Andean climate.