Something For The Weekend:
1 Hardy's Nottage Hill Chardonnay - 1997 Benjamin de Pontet, Pauillac - 2000 DFJ Touriga Nacional / Touriga Franca Red - 2001 Malambo Chenin Chardonnay
Saturday
2001 Hardy's Nottage Hill Chardonnay, £5.49
Thresher, Wine Rack, Bottoms Up, Safeway, Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury's
A welcome change of style for this best-selling Hardy's chardy. In place of the former tiringly oaky style comes brighter, fresher, tropical-fruit flavours with cleansing, lemony acidity. An infinitely better food wine all round.
1997 Benjamin de Pontet, Pauillac, £12.99 Marks & Spencer
If you're in the mood to spoil yourself, or someone else, rotten, this voluptuously juicy, silky-textured red from the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux has capsicum and vanilla undertones with a savoury succulence. Above all, it has the pedigree befitting the second wine of Château Pontet Canet, which was classified way back in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux.
Sunday
2000 DFJ Touriga Nacional / Touriga Franca Red, £5.99 Tesco
This 50:50 blend of two of Portugal's best native grape varieties from the Estremadura region is spicy and rich with distinctively Portuguese flavours of blackberries and spice. The gutsy tannins are best offset by char-grilled kebabs with chunks of courgette and aubergine.
Any day
2001 Malambo Chenin Chardonnay, £2.99Sainsbury's, until 23 July, then £3.99
This dry white from Bodegas Esmeralda may look and sound African but the rhythms are distinctly Latin. It's a refreshingly appley blend with lemon-zesty acidity, a versatile everyday summer refresher at a knockdown price for the next 10 days.
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