La Croix Chaptal Clairette Blanche 2008

I'm a sucker for a good story, and this wine was made on an estate that housed an abbey in 804. I like that kind of pointless detail, the idea that monks were busy making wine from the same soil that I'm enjoying wine from now.

I don't see much Clairette, it's not an easy grape to make a good wine from, and much of the production goes to make Vermouth, the Martini Extra Dry of my mother's generation. Martini and lemonade was the first drink I ordered in a pub, mostly because I was surprised that the bloke behind the bar was actually going to serve me and I panicked and it was the first thing that came into my head. Future panics led to me be mocked by a waiter for ordering Campari and soda. I have not yet asked for a gin and Dubonnet, but I'm sure under the right stress conditions it could happen. I digress.

This wine was good. It had a non standard flavour, some sort of lemon curd on toast kind of thing which was fruity and flavourful, but hard to pin down. Perhaps that's why the label writer had claimed that this is "a full bodied white wine which will surprise you with fish in sauce". I love the notion of opening the bottle and a little dish of fish in sauce popping out with the cork to surprise me, but this didn't happen. It did however go very well with a seafood risotto with spinach. I can't say I felt peculiarly surprised though.

I would buy it again.

Champagne Pierre Darcys NV

Champagne isn't my favourite wine, but I do like it. There are some occasions which really suit fizz. Christmas morning and New Year's Eve, weddings, new jobs, that kind of thing. Very often a Cava, Prosecco or even Asti will do the trick really well, but Champagne does shout 'celebration' more than any other wine.

The producers of Champagne have really made the most of this and can charge premium prices. Again, for some occasions it seems worthwhile to choose a favourite Champagne and really savour it, but on others, picking up a bargain bottle works just as well.

I picked up a £12 bottle from ASDA. My expectations were low. Champagne Pierre Darcys appears to be a re-branding of the ASDA 'Extra Special' Champagne, as own-brand Champagne doesn't sound quite as fancy as some kind of French Jane Austen character. Oddly, it wasn't bad.

It was a pale straw colour, with quite a fine mouse. It smelled lemony more than biscuity and had just a smidge more residual sweetness than I'd choose, but not by any means a cloying amount. I wouldn't pay £24, or whatever curious amount the supermarkets choose to label up their Champagnes at times when they don't expect to sell any in order to get around fair trading rules, but I'd choose it again if I needed cheap fizz with the C-word on the label.

Cooper Point Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay 2009

I don't drink much American wine outside the USA. It seems a little weird to import it to Europe. The really good Californian wines are absurdly expensive here and the ordinary wines are still ordinary, but with a pile of airmiles. This bottle arrived in a mixed case, and I didn't pay much attention to its origins when it came out of the fridge. It was a Chardonnay that could be sploshed into a risotto, and drunk.

What struck me as soon as I opened it was the waft of French oak, a whole forest of it. There was some pineapple and melon too. When I tasted it the melon and pineapple had the flavour of fruit baked over toasted oak, with a blob of butter.

This wasn't my favourite wine, but it did act as an instant aeroplane. The wine tasted of the USA, and I enjoyed it.

Laithwaites Amazon £60 Wine Voucher

It seems you people like wine vouchers at this time of year. Today's Amazon parcel came with a £60 Laithwaite's Voucher. Laithwaites are the people behind most of the wine clubs you see out there, and have been in the business for yonks.

This voucher is for brand new customers only, ordering a 15 bottle case normally priced at £110 so you'll need to shell out £50. It comes with a free corkscrew, don't let that sway you either way. You'll need to sign up to their quarterly club, although you can turn down their cases and then cancel in the future. Visit www.laithwaites.co.uk/c9h1c

If this offer isn't for you try clicking 'Wine Offers' below for the most up to date ones.

£40 Naked Wine Voucher

The nice people at Amazon sent me a Naked Wines Voucher, unfortunately, it's for band new customers only so it's no use to me, but might be of use to you.

The code is : AMAZ1125

Password: ASP32XYN

Expiry: 31/1/12

There's no obligation for further purchases, which makes it a reasonable intro offer if you're stocking up for Christmas.

Click for more wine offers

Picco del Sole Falanghina 2010

Falanghina always makes me think of Friends, when Phoebe called herself Regina Phalange for reasons that I can't quite remember, but were amusing in the 1990's. That's probably not a great reason to buy a bottle of wine.

This wine is fine. It's Goldilocks to some degree, not too sweet, not too dry, not too sharp, not too flabby, not too strong, not too weedy. That said, there's nothing really that marks it out as a wine I'd want to buy again. I wouldn't reject it, or refuse it as a gift, I just wouldn't mind if I didn't drink it ever again. There's a lot of wines that fall into that bracket, it's no bad thing, the search for my favourite wine continues.

Virgin Wines Voucher

The good people at LoveFilm sent me a voucher for £40 of any wine I like at Virgin Wines. That was kind, but as it's for 'brand new customers only' it's of no use to me. If it's of use to you (in the UK) go to www.virginwines.co.uk/lovewine36, the code is LOVE36 and the password is Discovery. It claims a use by date of 30 days from now. Enjoy.

Ermitage du Pic Saint Loup

Disturbing news through this morning from Aldeby Wines. It seems that the good people at Ermitage du Pic Saint Loup only had a small harvest and all their wines this year have been allocated so there's none available for UK retail. This is sad, however, I guess it does provide an opportunity to try some other wines, and Aldeby can help with that.

Portinho do Covo 2010 - Fernao Pires, Muscat, Verdelho

We had risotto, which means random white wine out of the fridge. This one looked particularly random, a white blend of grapes seemingly selected by a drunk passing through the dreg ends at a party.

I was pleasantly surprised by the smell. Half expecting Cheesy Wotsits and cigarette butts, I got a rich fruity combo that was reminiscent of an Alcasian wine at a far higher price. A kind of pinot gris flavour carried through to the palate, I was about to rave about the wine before a slightly bitter after-taste cleared the scruminess and replaced it with something more battery-acid like. This made me sad. We chilled it down to a much lower temperature and tried again.

Some of the fruit was flattened, but the after-taste was squashed clean out. It was much better. I'd love to see if the winemaker could identify which grape is doing what and re-balance a little, this could be quite a hit. As it stands its a good mid week wine at a good price, just remember to serve it very cold.

Les Dix du Pallet Muscadet 2010

The fridge always has a few random bottles of white, ready to be thrown in to a risotto at a moment's notice. It also has a bottle or two of pink, ready to be thrown into me at a moment's notice. This was a risotto wine. A good glass full goes into the risotto then we share the rest over the evening. Sometimes this is a pleasant experience, sometimes it's a bad experience, mostly it's a meh experience, this was on the good side of meh.

There's fruity fruit but not so much as to be overpowering, and a pleasant acidity with a bit of unripe zinginess. It won't make it onto any top ten lists, but it will make it into Italian dishes.

Virgin Wines £40 Voucher

The good people at LoveFilm sent me a voucher for £40 of any wine I like at Virgin Wines. That was kind, but as it's for 'brand new customers only' it's of no use to me. If it's of use to you (in the UK) go to www.virginwines.co.uk/lovewine27, the code is LOVE27 and the password is Discovery. It claims a use by date of 30 days from now. Enjoy.

Echo Falls

The end of the summer means the end of students in the house, and the end of Echo Falls bottles in the recycling. Echo Falls is cheap, when on offer you can pick up three bottles for £10. These two came here on a two for £7 deal. Unfortunately it doesn't taste great, particularly not served at just a little below room temperature. It needs to be ice cold, with ice, and maybe muddled with some strawberries to be tolerable.

Oddly the student drinkers know it is unpleasant, and can tell the difference between this and better wine, but drink it anyway. Strangely it's not a question of price entirely. A £7 bottle of wine would taste much better, and would be more enjoyable, but would involve drinking half as much. That seems to be a key buying decision - if I buy cheap I can drink more.

One of my nerdier chums did a study in his youth of price per ml of alcohol. He recommends 'British Sherry', last seen wearing a 'Fortified British Wine' label, or own brand vodka if that's the key deciding factor, although he new brews his own excellent cider from the spare apples his neighbours give him - theoretically free booze, but he's spent a lot on high end kit to make a superior product. The students prefer ciders made from high fructose corn syrup and flavourings. It's sad.