Wine Club 19 August

Wine merchants Mr Wheeler are in the midst of a vast sale as they amend their list and move on to more recent vintages. I’m delighted to say that we are the lucky beneficiaries, for there are heart-warming discounts on some seriously tasty vino.

There are well over 100 wines in the sale and the following six are my pick of the pops. They are likely to sell out fast, though, so I urge you to fill your boots at the earliest opportunity. If you’d like to see what else is in the sale, visit mrwheelerwine.com.

First, the extremely toothsome 2015 Terredirai Prosecco Extra Dry (1). If you’ll pardon the pun, the Prosecco bubble shows no sign of bursting and, although there’s a lot of dross out there, the best examples just get better and better. This is a corker which came top of a blind tasting of 50 examples when the team at Mr W were seeking to expand their fizz range. I can quite see why because it’s deliciously soft and creamy, with apple and citrus notes, and a pleasingly dry finish. £9.75 down from £12.

Also from Italy, we have the 2016 Fiano Carlomagno (2). I love Fiano, a grape you don’t see much outside Campania or — as here — Puglia which, as you know, is the heel of Italy centred round Bari, famous for its bizarre dry-stone trulli houses. It’s great quaffing wine, being fresh, lemony, melony with fine acidity and a lingering finish. It’s perfect end-of-summer fare. £7.50 down from £9.

The 2014 Ventisquero ‘Grey’ Single Block Chardonnay (3) from the Casablanca Valley in Chile is much bigger and butcher. I’ve always enjoyed Ventisquero’s wines (their entry level Yali range is excellent value) and their so-called Grey wines (named after Grey Glacier in southern Patagonia) are hugely appealing, focusing on single blocks of vines that best express their grape variety.