Wines of the week: Eight under-the-radar Spanish white bottles to try

This week Terry Kirby steers clear of any weather-based decisions, plumping instead for some lesser-known Spanish whites: no albariño in sight

Viura, or macabeo, is the most prevalent grape here, while the white versions of tempranillo and garanacha bring increased complexity and mouthfeel

Ahem. This week’s column was due to celebrate the joys of outdoor eating in spring and summer, the simple pleasures of garden meals, of barbecues and picnics in the balmy days of a British spring and early summer.

Sorry, but you will just have to wait. After two recent columns about spring wines and foods were followed by days when the weather was anything but spring like, I’m not tempting fate again. While the forecast for this weekend is good, at the time of writing the rain is currently lashing down against my window and it’s quite chilly.

So, if you are planning to eat outdoors in any capacity whatsoever this weekend, I wish you the best of luck; I hope the sun shines as promised and please use the interweb Googly thing to search my columns from last year for barbecue-friendly wines.

We will certainly return to outdoor eating in the coming week, but this week, we are off to sunny Spain… to the Rioja region in fact.

And no, not for fabulous reds, but for their white wines, which tend to fly under the radar a little bit, not having quite the cachet of Spanish albariños or Ruedas, and were once perhaps sometimes a bit over-oaked for our tastes.

However, their reputation has been enhanced by more modern winemaking techniques and restrained use of oak to produce approachable, contemporary, fresh wines. And ideal for spring and summer drinking…

The principal white grape of Rioja is viura, known in southern France, its only other main home, as macabeo, which can in the wrong hands be rather dull and undistinguished, but carefully managed, produces wines of distinction, with floral aromas and soft creamy flavours of pears, bitter almonds, lemons and just the tiniest hint of smoke.

At its most citric, you find the Marques de Caceres Blanco Rioja 2017 (£8.49 drinksupermarket.com, £8.58 thedrinkshop.com) which is effervescent, packed with bright acidity and wonderfully refreshing flavours of apples and pear; the ideal, unpretentious fridge door white for when we get any warmer evenings.

Or even when we don’t. In a similar vein, but less zippy and a touch both creamier and grassier is the Vina Albina Blanco (£7.99 simplywinesdirect.uk) or check out the green apple flavoured Beronia Viura, Rioja 2017 (£9.99 ocado.com); all three good quality, modest and modestly priced wines, fine for simple midweek fish dishes and, particularly, green vegetable and grain-based dishes and salads.

For a more substantial style, with a bit more use of oak for say, a fish pie, try the richer flavoured CVNE Barrel Fermented Rioja Blanco 2016 (£10.95 tanners-wines.co.uk; £10.99 waitrosecellar.com).

But it’s not just about viura. Moving considerably up the price range – from fridge door to dinner table – Abel Mendoza, a highly regarded, bespoke producer in the Rioja Alavesa area makes only limited quantities of the distinctive Abel Mendoza Garnacha Blanco (£22.75 winedirect.co.uk; £25.95 cellardoorwines.co.uk) which uses careful fermentation to bring out the best of the white version of garnacha – Spain’s second most popular red grape – which is full bodied, mouthfilling and packed with rich, toasted brioche and orchard fruit flavours. One to savour with serious fish like roast brill or monkfish.

Of course, the number one grape in Spain is tempranillo, the principal source of Rioja.

Now there is a relatively new, naturally occurring mutant version – tempranillo blanco, used to produce a small number of whites of high quality, with a big future predicted for it. Like garnacha blanco, it’s both less creamy and more floral and has more refreshing acidity than viura.

For the lighter and fruitier version, with flavours of apples, hints of nuts and lovely floral touches, try the unoaked Azabache Tempranillo Blanco Rioja 2017 (£10.99 thewinereserve.co.uk; £11.99 sandhamswine.co.uk).

While the limited-edition Rioja Vega Tempranillo Blanco 2017 (£12.99 houseoftownend.com; 2015: £15.95 waddesdon.org.uk) is the oak-aged iteration from a highly regarded producer: a step up in quality and substance: fuller flavoured, the vanilla and spice balanced by vibrancy and acidity; look for stronger-flavoured foods, like tapas or pork dishes.

And if you are really pushing the boat out for a special occasion then there is the massively complex, intense, Rioja Vega Tempranillo Blanco Reserva 2014 (£39.99 houseoftownend.com).

A big wine that needs a big fish, like a whole baked turbot, indoors, or out, if the weather holds…