JUNE WINE CLUB

Here’s a very exciting offer. We start with two wines which are phenomenal value. They are from the Pierre Henri estate in southern France. This is a big enterprise (they have just taken an order for 50,000 cases from Royal Thai airlines) and you might expect the wines to be bland and mass-produced: alcoholic grape juice. Not so. The Syrah 2006 is plump and fruity, and the Chardonnay 2006 is fresh, lively and packed with flavour. There’s perfume provided by the 5 per cent Viognier that M. Henri adds when nobody is looking. These wines are sold under a different label in one of our best-known chains for £5.90 a bottle, and people still feel they’ve got a bargain. Now Simon Wrightson, who runs a splendidly quirky wine business in North Yorkshire, is selling them both — not for his list price of £4, but for £3.50 a bottle. £3.50! That’s independent quality at supermarket prices. For a summer party, you need look no further. They are also good enough for sipping over dinner. You can also buy a mixed case. Marvellous.

As are the other wines. I love the Château Gravade white 2005, but I’m a sucker for Minervois wines, with their spicy, herby, sun-soaked flavours. This is smooth, organic, full-bodied, excellent with food, and reduced to £6.50 from £7.75.

Viognier is a tricky grape: it needs acidity to counter those rich floral notes. This Château de Gourgazaud 2006 manages the trick perfectly. The finest Viogniers are from the tiny appellation of Condrieu, and the other day I opened a bottle. It was fine, but not hugely better than this — which, reduced by £1.25 to £8 — costs less than one third the price.

Some years ago the famous Cloudy Bay estate in New Zealand was taken over by a multinational and fans of the classic Sauvignon have mourned what they see as a sad loss of quality.