A lovely, summery offer this, with some great wines chosen especially for outdoor drinking; for barbecues, picnics, lazy afternoons and long evenings idling in the garden and for stashing in the Glyndebourne or Garsington hamper.
And just to be fair, the wines — which took an age to whittle down — will also suit perfectly those armchair sportsmen likely to be unavoidably detained indoors by the World Cup, Wimbledon or the Test Matches. Best of all, every bottle, bar the fizz, comes in under a tenner.
And the fizz — Champagne Delamotte Brut NV (1) — really is rather fabulous. Delamotte is one of the oldest of all champagne producers (established 1760) and sister house to the legendary Salon. Widely admired by those in the know, Delamotte really does deserve a wider drinkership. The highest possible quality Chardonnay grapes from Le Mesnil, Oger and Avize make up half the blend and after a minimum three years on the lees, the wine is soft, creamy, honeyed and disarmingly approachable with a delectably fine mousse. You would be hard-pushed to find a better champagne at this price. £26.13 down from £27.50.
The 2011 Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec ‘La Folie de Roi’ (2) is a wonderfully individual white from Producteurs Plaimont in Madiran in Gascony, south-west France. I’ve visited Plaimont and reckon it thoroughly deserves its reputation as one of France’s finest co-operatives.
It’s a big outfit, with six wineries, overseen by 25 winemakers, processing the fruit of a thousand growers, working 5,500 hectares of vines. They make excellent, terroir-driven wines, though, at drinker-friendly prices, and this example is no exception. Blended from Arrufiac, Petit Courbu and Gros and Petit Manseng, it’s ideal for the Anything But Chardonnay fraternity, being peachy, citrusy, rounded and creamy.
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