From supermarket bargains to star whites for poolside drinking, these are the best bottles to sip – or glug – now

Summer, at last, and now that we’re able to socialise perhaps you’d like a few glasses of wine with your conversation? I’ve picked out 30 excellent red and white (and a couple of sparkling) wines below, for the aperitifs, lunches, barbecues and dinners I hope we will all be sharing with friends and family this summer.

They include Aldi’s grassy (and bargain!) vermentino from the south of France, a delicious Argentinian malbec, a Greek white that tastes like it was made to be drunk with your feet in a paddling pool (at least) and a simply superb English sparkling wine made by Gusbourne in Kent.

Speaking of English wine, a couple of weeks ago I caught a train out of London and stood in a vineyard, Albury Estate, for the first time since lockdown started last year. There weren’t many leaves to see. “Spring was so cold that we’re three to four weeks behind where we’d usually expect to be. Hopefully we can catch up a bit of that now that the weather has got warmer,” explained Alex Valsecchi, the vineyard manager.

The vines might be slow but you know one thing that’s moving fast for every English vineyard? Bookings.

At Harrow and Hope in Buckinghamshire the tours are sold out for the rest of 2021. At Albury, a small family-run place in the Surrey Hills, they’ve added a tour to their weekly Saturday programme because the existing dates were getting so full.

Speak to pretty much any British winemaker and they have the same story to tell: newly released, we are happy to be getting out and about and local (or local-ish) vineyards are high on the list of places to visit. I’ve pulled out five good ones and you can find a more extensive list at Wine GB.

Finally, for the bucket list. If, like me, you’re dreaming of travel I’ve included a list of some of the places I wish I were going to this summer. Maybe one day.

30 of the best summer wines

Domaine Bousquet Finca Lalande Malbec 2020

Mendoza, Argentina (14%, Waitrose, £7.49 down from £10.49 until June 22)

Argentina changed the game for malbec. This one’s made from grapes grown at an altitude of 4,000ft in the Tupungato district of Mendoza. Juicy and beautifully smooth, it’s also unoaked. A real steal on offer.

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/best-wines-summer-2021-drinks-red-white-sparkling-vineyards-uk/