Reds

Pasico Old Vine Monastrell Shiraz, Jumilla Spain 2013
(£6, Sainsbury's)
A great-value barbecue or chorizo matcher from south-eastern Spain, this soft, juicy but gutsy tinto blend of local speciality monastrell (known elsewhere as mourvèdre) with shiraz is dry but full of sweetly ripe spicy plummy fruit.

Cave Saint Verny Pinot Noir Puy de Dôme France 2012
(from £7.95 The Wine Society; Lea & Sandeman)
Made by the local co-op in a lesser-spotted appellation in the Auvergne, this is Burgundian-style pinot noir at a Romanian pinot noir price, feather-soft and redcurrant-refreshing with bright red berry fruit and a touch of forest-floor earthiness. Serve with pâté or rillettes after a half-hour in the fridge.

Tesco Finest Teroldego Italy 2012
£7.99, Tesco)
This crunchy, sappy Beaujolais- or Valpolicella-esque north-eastern Italian red, with its just-ripe dark cherry and bramble fruit, and smack of tomato-like acidity is the one for that lunch in the garden with a spread of strong cheeses, ham, salami and some properly fresh tomatoes.

Araldica Barbera d'Asti Superiore, Italy 2011
(£8.99, Waitrose)
Another wine with tomato-salad affinity, thanks to its juicy-sappy acidity and cherry-and-plum-skin tang, this Piemontese rosso also has an abundant dark-berry and cherry fruitiness and a pleasant twist of tannin for mopping up the smoke, fat and blood of barbecued meat.

Best for barbecue
Altos Las Hormigas Malbec Clásico, Mendoza, Argentina 2013
(from £11.95, Slurp; Noel Young Wines,)
Italian-Argentinian co-production Altos Las Hormigas is making some of the best malbecs around, and this vivacious bottling perfectly encapsulates the variety's charms: fragrant, floral, succulent and fleshy but with all the required depth and tannic structure for an asado (South American barbecue).

Domaine du Cros Cuvée Vieilles Vignes Marcillac France 2011
(£14.49, Les Caves de Pyrène)
From the remote and obscure south-western French region of Marcillac, a very refined red from the local fer servadou variety – with its leafy lilt and raspberry lift, it's reminiscent of top Loire cabernet franc, but with a distinctive ferrous-mineral character of its own.

Thierry Richoux Irancy, France 2010
(£16.40, Vine Trail)
Right up in the north of Burgundy, the Irancy appellation is the red equivalent of white Chablis, making racy, delicate and very pretty pinot noirs with, in this case, a wonderful perfumed raspberry and cherry character, gentle tannins and crisp acidity for grilled salmon.

Moobuzz Pinot Noir, Monterey, California, US 2011
(£16.95, Roberson)
One of the cheaper wines in London independent Roberson's critically acclaimed new selection of elegant Californians, this is a gorgeously drinkable lighter red, a fresh and fluent compote of softly plump strawberries and cherries and gentle tannin.

Whites

Best buy
Vale da Capucha Fossil Branco, Lisboa, Portugal 2012
(£8.50, Asda Wine Shop)
Easily the standout in Asda's recent press tasting, this golden three-way blend of native Portuguese varieties arinto, gouveio and fernão pires is ripe and full with peach and quince, and while the weight is leavened by tangy acidity, it's punchy and full enough for a smoky spatchcocked chicken.

Torres Days of Summer Muscat Reserva, Itata, Chile 2013
(£6.99, The Co-operative)
The name may be cheesy, but it's hard to quibble when it's so apt: close your eyes, and the typically floral, grapey aromas of the muscat variety on show here really do summon up a summer garden. On the palate, it's dry and gentle, the grapey-ness offset with a tickle of lemon freshness.

Ca'vit Terrazze della Luna Nosiola, Trentino, Italy 2013
(£7.39, allaboutwine.co.uk)
If the Torres is a summer garden, this equally gentle but evocative far northern Italian white is an Alpine meadow: made from local variety nosiola, it smells of white flowers and cut grass, and tastes of apples and pears, with a cool-stream feel to wash down trout and asparagus.

Best for salad
Taste the Difference Grüner Veltliner, Traisental, Austria 2013
(£7.50, Sainsbury's)
The dry whites made from Austria's grüner veltliner often have a kind of green savouriness that reminds me of celery seasoned with salt and white pepper. Both are subtly present here, combining with crisp green apple and racy lime for a graceful, refreshing side-order for green salads and goat's cheese or feta.

Casa de Senra Loureiro, Vinho Verde, Portugal 2013
(£10.95, Lea & Sandeman)
Of the many local varieties used in northern Portugal's Vinho Verde region, alvarinho (aka albariño) has received most attention. But loureiro can be just as interesting – as in this fabulously brisk, light, lightly floral but intensely flavoured white with its sparky acidity and juicy peach and apple fruit.

Agricola Punica Samas, Sardinia, Italy 2012
(£13, Armit)
With a familial connection to the producers of top Super Tuscan red Sassicaia, Agricola Samas has a serious pedigree, and this evocative, full-flavoured island white blend of mostly vermentino with a little chardonnay doesn't disappoint: the wild herb, fennel bulb and pithy lemon taking you straight to the Mediterranean.

Best for seafood
Finca Viñoa Blanco, Ribeiro, Spain 2012
(from £13.50, H2Vin.co.uk; oldbridgewine.co.uk)
The Galician region of Ribeiro is not as well known in the UK as neighbouring Rías Baixas, but its dashing mineral whites are equally good at matching the abundant local seafood. Made principally from treixadura, this has a scintillating freshness and tang to go with its concentrated flavours of apricot, lemon curd and white flowers.

Domaine Josmeyer Riesling Le Kottabe, Alsace, France 2011
(£16.50, The Wine Society)
Elegance and purity is the house style in the consistently exquisite range of wines made by the biodynamic Josmeyer estate, and this Riesling, one of its cheaper bottlings, is marked by a trademark Sabatier swish of steely acidity to go with its plump sweet apple fruit to match with meaty white fish or quiche.

Rosés

Tesco Simply Garnacha Rosé, Campo de Borja, Spain NV
(£4.69, Tesco)
Sadly, £5 doesn't buy you a lot of wine these days, but Bodegas Borsao, the makers of this bright and robust rosé from the Campo de Borja region in Aragon, offer more than most at the price, and as a crowd-pleasing party wine on a budget, this is honest, dry and attractively strawberry juicy.

Phaedra Xinomavro Rosé, PGI Florina, Greece 2013
(£8.99, Waitrose)
In a sea of so-so lookalike supermarket rosé with little sense of place, here's one with some real personality, a super-refreshing, light and dry Greek Macedonian rosé with the crunch and tang of cranberries, redcurrants and lemony acidity that is crying out for a verandah and a plate of grilled sardines.

Fizz

Hattingley Valley Classic Cuvée, Hampshire, England 2011
(from £29.95, Averys, hattingleyvalley.co.uk)
Among the plethora of new and newish sparkling names lined up at the annual English wine tasting in May, Hattingley's debut release impressed me the most: there's real finesse in its combination of baker's shop and orchard flavours with insistent, crystal clear acidity and softly-softly bubbles.

Berlucchi Cuvée Imperiale NV Franciacorta
(£22.49, or £14.98 if you buy two bottles, Majestic)
More than prosecco, which is a very different, sherbetty beast, franciacorta is Italy's answer to champagne, using the same techniques to create genuinely classy fizz. On the single-bottle price, this would be a very good, subtly yeasty, super-fresh, citrussy introduction to the style. Buy two bottles, and it's one of the best value sparklers around.