This week: 25 best wines under £8

WHITES

2007 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie, Clos du Ferré, Domaine Michel David, France, Bennett’s (01386 840392), £7.95; Cambridge Wine Merchants (01223 568993), £7.99. Thirty years ago, muscadet was an evil paint-stripper. Now, from good growers such as Michel David and his son Stéphane, it can be delicious. This is aged “sur lie” – on its yeasty, flavour and body-building lees – for almost a year, hence all the tangy, lively, lemony, floral style.

2007 Pouilly-Fumé Les Cascadelles, La Tuilerie, France, Majestic, £9.99 or buy two for £7.99 each until July 28. The Loire’s top whites are still not as modish or as expensive, thank goodness, as the Rhône’s reds. Sadly, that looks all set to change, so snap up this rich, ripe Les Cascadelles, complete with a long, lemon zest finish. It’s a handsome sauvignon blanc and the classic flinty, smoky, herby pouilly-fumé aromas are here in spades. Almost the star white.

2007 Château Bel Air Bordeaux Réserve, Bordeaux Blanc, Vignobles Despagne, France, Tanners (01743 234455), £7.70; Wine society (01438 740222), £6.25. 2007 has produced some humdinger floral, citrussy, dry yet steely Bordeaux whites with the fruit-charged elegance you would expect. Bel Air’s beautiful dry white is a terrific example of how good the new wave, stainless steel-aged and cool-fermented whites from the Entre deux Mers can be.

2007 Mâcon Terroir de Charnay, Domaine Cordier Père & Fils, France, Majestic, £8.99 or buy two for £7.99 each until June 26. You know you need one: a classic white burgundy from a tried and trusted producer that at this price is a snip. Christophe Cordier’s mâconnais wines are full of dreamy white burgundy flavours; this one, packed with ripe, fragrant, creamy, hazelnut oak and rich herby, leafy fruit, is likely to sell out fast, so stock up for summer now.

2007 Domaine La Croix-Belle, Grenache-Viognier, Vin de Pays des Côtes de Thongue, Jacques et Françoise Boyer, France, Lea & Sandeman (020-7244 0522), £7.50 or £6.95 for Times readers until June 28. Mr Lea and Mr Sandeman have long made a speciality of rooting out the Midi’s best, and this aromatic, peach-perfumed blend of one third viognier, married to a smoky-toasty, almost burnt two thirds grenache base, is a great summer food white.

2007 La Nuit Blanche Roussanne, Vin de Pays des Côtes de Thongue, Domaine Sainte Rose, France, Majestic, £9.99 or buy two for £7.99 each until June 26. I have always found it hard to love Rhône whites, but the latest models from the same grapes grown in the Languedoc hit the spot. Made from night-harvested grapes, this is a terrific, nutty, lemon and apricot-stacked, French oak-aged white of real distinction.

2007 Picpoul de Pinet La Croix Gratiot, Coteaux du Languedoc, Domaine de Sainte-Croix, France, Liberty (020-7720 5350), £6.99; Valvona & Crolla (0131 5566066), £6.99. Another Languedoc star, made from the ancient picpoul grape, harvested at night (preserving aromatic qualities and high acidity) and fermented cool in stainless steel. Expect fine, floral, lime peel and lemon sherbet flavours from this refined summer apéritif and fish white.

2007 Palestra Rueda Verdejo. Agrícola Castellana, Spain, Tesco, £6.19. Funky label, funky wine. Rueda in northern Spain is home to splendid, crisp, new-wave whites that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Made from the verdejo grape, this bursts with terrific spicy, verdant fruit and boasts thrilling lime zest notes on the finish. Rueda’s whites hang on to their vital acidity in part due to the cold nights; fermentation and ageing in stainless steel helps too. Bravo.

2006 Pirineos Somontano Mesache, Bodegas Pirineos, Spain, Adnams (01502 727222), £6.50. Somontano, a hop over the Pyrenees from France in northern Spain, is a wine region to watch, and this is from one of its best producers. Made from an unusual blend of separately vinified, late-harvest macabeo topped up with gewürztraminer and chardonnay, what you get is a lively, lemony white with lots of exotic nutty, smoky, honeyed fruit on the finish.

2007 A. Mano Fiano-Greco, Bianco Puglia, Italy, Liberty, £7.99; Noel Young (01223 566744), £7.29; Booths, £6.99; Bennett’s, £7.25 or buy two for £6.53 each until July 31. A. Mano’s luscious reds are well known to Times Top 100 readers.So I was keen to taste its first white made from a mix of faintly waxy-scented fiano and peachy greco di tufa grapes. It’s a gorgeous, fat, spicy, lemony wine that makes a joyous summer glugger.

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