White wine under £10
Moncaro Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico, Marche, Italy 2012 (£5.59, Waitrose)
An evergreen staple of the cheaper reaches of the Waitrose range, this breezy, direct, subtly nutty and refreshingly limey central Italian white is made for having with simple fish starters from smoked salmon to shellfish – as well as being cheap enough to lay in several bottles if you're planning some kind of Nigella-ish Christmas do.
Morrisons Signature Premium Manzanilla, Spain NV (£5.99, Morrisons)
Served straight from the fridge as an aperitif or as a first-course white with smoked salmon, serrano ham or anything of an east Asian bent, this classically salty-yeasty, super-dry sherry made by the ever-excellent Lustau in estuarine Sanlúcar de Barrameda manages to be both umami-savoury and lightly refreshing: I think the technical term is moreish. (Star buy)
Tesco Finest Côtes de Gascogne, France 2012 (£7.99, Tesco)
With its tangy grapefruit, faintly grassy pungency and flow of crystal-clear acidity, this spry dry white made mostly from the local gros manseng (with a wee bit of sauvignon blanc) in Armagnac-and-duck country in Gascon southwest France is more than a match for Kiwi or Loire sauvignon at this price. One to kick off – or have while preparing – Christmas dinner.
Martín Códax As Caixas Godello, Monterrei, Spain 2012 (£9.99, or £7.99 if you buy two bottles, Majestic)
Many – myself included – were given their first introduction to the salted-peachy charms of the albariño grape by the big but generally reliable Martín Códax co-operative. The company also has a nice line in good value interpretations of Galicia's other white star, godello, as with this whip-smart dry white, with its juicy lemon curd, pear and touch of cream.
Domaine des Forges Coteaux du Layon, Loire, France 2010 (£8.29, Waitrose)
Like a liquefied tarte tatin, this fabulous Loire sweetie made from chenin blanc in the Loire appellation of Coteaux du Layon also has the acidic tang and cut of fresh apples to keep it clean and fresh. Designed for desserts, it's also a great match for both blue and nutty hard cheeses, acting like a bite of apple with a slice of mature Cheddar or a sweet ripe pear with Roquefort.
Thymiopoulos Malagouzia, central Greece, Greece 2012 (£8.99, Marks & Spencer)
Easily the most adventurous of the supermarkets these days, Marks & Spencer has been exploring the eastern fringes of the Mediterranean to great effect recently. This scintillating dry Greek white, for example, mixes a gewürztraminer-like perfume of rosewater and orange blossom to Alsace-like exotic effect, although the palate is racy, with mint and lemony acidity.
Viña Leyda Falaris Chardonnay, Leyda Valley, Chile 2011 (£9.75, Oddbins)
It's hard to think of another producer anywhere in the world making wines with such consistent élan under a tenner as Viña Leyda. It's the vineyards' proximity to the Atlantic ocean and its air-conditioning properties that gives the wines their distinctive lift and life, and which make this electric chardonnay a more than credible alternative to white burgundies such as Chablis at a fraction of the price.
Domaine de Chéreau Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Loire France 2012 (£9.95, Yapp Bros)
Few wines are better at providing a foil for seafood than those made around the Loire estuary in Muscadet – and, with its squeeze of zesty lemon, this unoaked dry white certainly satisfies that part of its brief. But there's more to it than simple refreshment: there's an extra dimension of shimmering fruit concentration and salty minerals here that lifts it far above the average.
Whites £10-£20
Château Raymond-Lafon Sauternes, Bordeaux, France 2008 (from £11.50, 37.5cl, The Wine Society; Fine & Rare)
Working as well with cheese (especially Stilton) as it does with the Christmas pud, this beautifully judged classically styled dessert wine has a pretty floral, blossom-like character as well as gorgeous crystallised tangerine citrus and honey. As with all the best stickies, it's shot through with a fine line of acidity that freshens and quickens the palate.
Waterkloof Circle of Life White, Stellenbosch, South Africa 2011 (from £12.95, Swig; All About Wine; Rannoch Scott Wines; SA Wines Online)
The South Africans excel at making white blends, and this is one of the best around. Seamlessly weaving together chenin blanc, sauvignon blanc and semillon into a live-wire package that fizzes with nervous energy behind the intense citrus, minerals and richer tropical and orchard fruit flavours, it would work right through the Christmas meal.
Dr Bürklin-Wolf Wachenheimer Riesling Trocken, Pfalz Germany 2011 (£13.50, Tanners)
Rieslings from the Pfalz region tend to be weightier and more forceful than the gentle featherweights of the Mosel farther north, although the best examples – such as this reverberant, lime- and tropical-fruited dry version– still have the grape variety's characteristic sharp steely blade of acidity, making it an ideal partner for the range of flavours of Christmas dinner.
Ascheri Gavi di Gavi, Piedmont, Italy 2012 (£13.99, Sainsbury's; Great Western Wine)
Like the Te Whare Ra sauvignon, this Italian seafood white takes an often so-so supermarket staple – Gavi – and ratchets up the quality by several multitudes. It smells of lemon zest and white flowers, but it's the effect on the palate rather than the fruit allusions that make it special: so clean and unforced and vital, it teases and cleanses with its Alpine-spring purity and citric tang.
Quinta dos Roques Encruzado, Dão, Portugal 2011 (from £16.96, Roberson; We Love Fine Wines)
One of the many intriguing indigenous Portuguese grape varieties that you just don't find anywhere else, encruzado from the Dão is behind some of the country's finest whites. With a white Burgundy-like combination of taut, minerally, luminosity and layered nutty stone fruit, this is an intense, textured, but vital dry white for Christmas dinner.
Domaine Marcel Deiss Pinot d'Alsace, France 2011 (£18.95, Lea & Sandeman; Roberson Wine)
The endlessly inventive, dynamic and biodynamic Jean-Michel Deiss here conjures up an original blend of all the pinots grown in Alsace – blanc, gris, noir – for a typically heady, spicy brew that is both opulent in its spiced quince, peach and cushion of sugar, and racy in its quicksilver acidity: if you're having goose, look no further.
Eric Texier Roussanne, Brézème, Rhône, France 2011 (£19.01, HG Wines, stjohngroup.uk.com)
Utterly delightful unoaked white from a winemaker who has helped revitalise Brézème, a small, long-neglected Rhône appellation that sits at the top of the southern part of the valley, but which has a style more in common with the north. Unoaked, it ripples with the purest of pear fruit flecked with almonds– like a very fine Poire William without the alcoholic bite.
Star buy
Te Whare Ra Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 2012 (£19.95, Swig; Prohibition Wines; North & South Wines)
It may be rather more expensive, but the difference between this glorious sauvignon blanc and the oceans of sweet, passionfruit and green pepper-flavoured dreck currently clogging up supermarket shelves is as wide as that between a tomato grown in a Dutch polytunnel and one from a Provençal garden. It pulses with spring-like energy, the classic verdant sauvignon flavours restrained but clear as a cloudless sky.
White over £20
Pazo Señorans Selección de Añada Albariño, Rías Baixas, Spain 2005 (from £32, Virgin Wines; The Wine Society; Excel Wines)
Most of us tend to drink our albariño young and fresh, and for the most part that's the best way to treat it. But this is a glorious exception: deliberately released a little older after taking on an extra intensity of peachy flavour and some riesling-like tones of lime and caraway seed, it still feels utterly sea-spray fresh.
Star buy
Marco Sara Picolit dal Dis, Friuli, Italy 2010 (£36, Aubert & Mascoli)
Tending a handful of hectares in the west of Friuli in the far north-east of Italy, Marco Sara makes a handful of wines that, whenever I've tried them, have come with a stamp of genuine originality and verve. This evocative sweet wine from the rare local picolit is particularly – and gorgeously – distinctive: like the purest wild honey delicately infused with herbs, blossom and citrus.
Domaine Georges Vernay Terrasses de l'Empire Condrieu, Rhône, France 2011 (from £42.50, Yapp Bros; Berry Bros)
Few dry whites have more immediate sensual appeal than well-made viognier. From a key producer in the variety's home appellation of Condrieu, in the northern Rhône, this is perfectly modulated, the waves of apricot and honeysuckle caught at just the right level of suavely charming ripeness.
Domaine Marc Morey 1er Cru Les Vergers, Chassagne-Montrachet, Burgundy, France 2010 (£50, or £42 as part of a mixed case, Roberson)
Barrel-fermented chardonnay may be made with increasing excellence and sensitivity all over the world now, but the originals – from Burgundy – still have the capacity to thrill more than any other. From a top-flight producer, this is richly savoury with nuts and orchard fruit, and positively vibrates in the mouth with its minerals and crystal clear acidity long after you've put the glass down.
