Liverpool Life: Wine: Tipples to try al fresco .... even if you have to brave the rain

THIS week, more thoughts on wine to cradle under an umbrella al fresco as you dream of the summer that we should be having.

If you like the zizzazizz you get from sauvignon blanc then you should try Tesco Finest Saint Mont Blanc 2010 (£6.99) – an amazing bargain for the flavour gymnastics you get in return.

This wine is made by Plaimont Producteurs in the Gers Department near the Midi Pyrenees, south west France. The Saint Mont appellation is within the Armangnac region and achieved AOC status in 2011.

In 1979 three wine cooperatives of Plaisance, Aignan and Saint-Mont in the Gers joined forces and, using the initials of the three areas, named themselves Plaimont Producteurs.

Now Plaimont represents 98% of the Saint Mont appellation with 40 million bottles sold every year.

Tesco Finest Saint Mont Blanc 2010 is a blend of the area’s native grapes – gros manseng (lively, citrussy) petit courbu (ripe fruit to taste, floral aromas) and arrufiac (floral aromas, elegant and crisp).

The result is a wine which bounces with exotic fruit. On the nose, lemon is strong, with pineapple. I also had a childhood memory flashback of a bowl of juicy, syrupy, mandarins.

On the palate the wine is juicy-lemon-dry but with lingering stone fruit to a good finish.

Another decent buy from the south of France is Les Estivales Rosé 2011 (£5.00 Asda). I met Philippa Carr, Asda’s master of wine at their spring and summer tasting and asked her to recommend a wine for the summer. This is it.

Les Estivales is a blend of shiraz (60 per cent) and grenache (40 per cent) and is harvested from 30-year-old vines around the villages of Puisserguier in Languedoc Roussillon – the largest wine-producing region in France. Philippa said: “The wine is full of juicy berries and would go great with pan-fried tuna and couscous. But it’s also great for easy drinking; not too dry.”

It is a lush girlie-pink, with concentrated dried-strawberry flavours, both on the nose and to taste, as opposed to punnets of cream-dolloping fresh fruit. But beware: Mischief lies in its imperceptible 13.5 per cent strength.

Talking of strawberries. Slice a couple into quarters and pour fizz over the top. (Wine of course – doubt if the girlie character from Corrie could fit in a glass.)

It seems eons ago that I sat in the garden, watching tiny bubbles of Henri LeBlanc Blancs de Blanc NV Brut cluster around the little strawberry triangles I’d popped in a flute. The sparkler is half price at just £6.99 (at the Co-op, reduced from £13.99 up until July 10). It packed a lot of fruit on the nose – assisted by my DIY-inclusion of a couple of England’s finest berries – and moved into a soft, tremblant, fruitbowl of apples and pears to taste. Glass emptied, the strawberries were yummy too.

Finally, a moscato may be a little too sweet for some of you, but put newly-launched Gallo Family Vineyards Moscato 2011 (RRP £6.79, various stores) in the fridge for a few hours and then decide. It’s not sickly-sweet, but if fruit salad was a luscious liquid, this would be it. It has bundles of peach and orange blossom which come at a sensible 8.75 per cent alcohol.

Apparently in the US hip-hop artists are penning lyrics about a new moscato-inspired wine trend. Over here in the UK, watch out for my moscato rap available on download soon.