Wine Box: Season snobs

Age, endurance and tradition count for us Brits. We're snobs. Wimbledon, Ascot, Henley - The Season - we love it. Are we avid racing or rowing fans? Maybe not (I've seen visitors to Henley spurn boats, oarsmen and river just to enjoy the inside of a hospitality tent), but the chance to dress up for a day out in the sun with friends, picnic hamper and numerous bottles is magnetic.

And Wimbledon - well, it's the best tennis-fest in the world. Tackle it any way you want: buy tickets and lug a small picnic from court to court, or pay exorbitant prices for strawberries and cream. My advice: take two weeks' holiday and stay at home - unplug the phone, ignore visitors, stock the freezer and buy several cases of delicious summer wines. Then watch every single minute of televised play, glass in hand, of course.

Montana Marlborough Riesling 2000 (Tesco, Waitrose, £4.99). An upfront fruity dazzler that hits big time on the nose and palate. Intense, lush lemon and lime aromas give way to good balance with juicy honey and apricot flavours. Riesling can be the best white grape in the world when grown right, and many New World offerings are improving each year. This New Zealander is one of them. Perfect combined with inventive salad, and strawberries for pud, for a lively evening of mixed singles (if you get my drift).

Chandon Argentina Brut (Safeway, £7.99). So many fizzes, so little time. Heigh-ho. But, hang on, this is really good stuff for this money. It's much less raw and harsh than most cheap sparklers and has a great mix of ripe fruit with decent acidity. A soft, foaming bubbly with gentle flavours of biscuit, nuts and peach. This one will fizz down the line as an outright winner.

Rosemount Show Reserve Chardonnay 1999, Hunter Valley (Majestic, £9.99, or two bottles or more at £8.74 each). OK, so it's Oz Chardonnay again, but this is no Cro-Magnon juice. It has terrific balanced acidity plus grapefruit and oak flavours in harmony. No bags of surplus oak chips here. Great drinking on its own. Ace on the first service, plenty of topspin on the second.

Ch?teau Carsin Bordeaux Blanc 1997, Cadillac (Sainsbury, £5.99). With so many gallons of New World white wine gagging to jump down our throats, it's easy to forget how good some cheaper French whites can be. Bordeaux winemakers have plenty of ripe fruit to play with, as shown with this classy white which zings with lively citrus flavours. Open a bottle during every tie-break - it'll calm the nerves.