Whether it’s a picnic in the park or a party in your back garden, these summer sparklers are a treat whatever the weather

Fillipo Sansovino Extra Dry Prosecco, Italy NV (£6.50, Asda ) This summer (the coldest and wettest since 2012 so far apparently) hasn’t offered very many opportunities for lingering outside with a cold glass or two, never mind a picnic. But I haven’t given up hope that we’ll have a decent stretch of warmer weather, and that this week’s selection of summery sparkling wines will get their moment in the sun. That said, while a well-made extra dry prosecco such as Asda’s bargain is an ideal contender for any summer parties or picnics, its slightly sweet style is also well matched to the sort of foods I’d eat come rain or shine at this time of year, whether a delicate Vietnamese salad flavoured with mint, coriander, fish sauce and lime or a fresh fruit salad of English summer berries. And while I’m on this subject, it’s worth remembering that, rather misleadingly, extra dry prosecco always has more sugar than the driest, brut style; the Fillipo Sansovino, for example has 14.5g of sugar per litre, compared to 10g for the same brand’s Brut Millesimato.

Proyecto Nakkal Simple Pet Nat Rosé, Canalones, Uruguay 2022 (from £14.10, templarwines.co.uk ; connollyswine.co.uk ; vintopiawine.co.uk ) Another fizz style that seems ideally suited to summer, whether it’s a matter of acting as a kind of surrogate sunshine in a glass or a refreshing way to cool down on a genuinely hot evening, is pét-nat, or pétillant naturel. This new-old way of making sparkling wine, which is made by bottling a wine before it’s finished its fermentation, has its roots in the Loire Valley, but has been adopted by natural-minded producers all over the world, with many of my favourite examples coming from places that are not traditionally associated with sparkling wine. Two I’ve particularly enjoyed this summer, for example, come from Uruguay, whose fast-improving wines are still somewhat overshadowed by those of its bigger, noisier neighbour in Argentina: the cherry, red apple and pleasingly medicinal tang of Proyecto Nakkal Simple and the floral and tropical fruity vibes of Viña Progeso Underground Pét Nat Torrontés 2023 (£23.95, sevencellars.co.uk ).

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Or rather, what is the sweet spot where quality and value for money meet?

The discovery and savouring of new bottles is the glue that keeps the secondary school woodwork project of my life together. But, after rent and bills, groceries, shampoo, therapy and a Disney+ subscription I said I’d never get, there’s not much left to spend on the one thing I enjoy the most: wine. If you’re reading this, you may well feel a similar way.

I’m just back from a book tour, and at every stop I was greeted by a raised hand asking the same question: how much should I spend on a bottle of wine? Through this question, I think we’re really asking several. How little can I spend without stripping my tongue of all sensation? How much do I have to spend until the quality isn’t reflected in a high price tag? Where is the sweet spot in the quality-to-cost ratio?

Hannah Crosbie is a wine writer and broadcaster. Her book Corker: A Deeply Unserious Wine Book, is published by Ebury Press at £16.99. To order a copy for £14.95, go to guardianbookshop.com

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The most fun way to discover a new English wine – of which there are now many – is to visit the producers themselves, but here’s a selection to discover online

If you weren’t already aware, it’s been English Wine Week this week. If you haven’t tried the stuff for a while, you might feel that that’s nothing to write home about – the fizz is great but expensive, while the still wines can be sharp and underripe – but they’re improving all the time, and I speak as a former sceptic. I helped judge the Independent English Wine Awards (IEWA) last month, and found lots to love, including some really good chardonnay and, intriguingly, orange wine.

Bacchus is the signature grape variety in the UK and, being distinctly sauvignon blanc-ish in character, it’s one you might well reach for with salads. But salads don’t have to be light, and frequently aren’t these days: grilled veg, seared steak and pulses all make them as likely to go with an orange or a red wine as with a white or rosé.

For more by Fiona Beckett, go to fionabeckett.substack.com

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A zippy, sparkling wine cocktail with a strawberry vermouth and citrus edge

This lower-than-usual ABV cocktail features a delicious base of infused Italian vermouth and crémant, a French sparkling wine made in the traditional method, but just not from the region of Champagne.

Douglas Murray, bar manager, Lady Libertine, Edinburgh

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Italians tend to serve fresher, more restrained and lower-abv whites with their food, not least so as not to overpower it

I don’t know how many of you buy wine specifically to drink with food, but the Italians do and we could learn a few lessons from them. If you taste wines such as soave and pinot grigio on their own, you might think they’re a bit bland and boring, but sip a glass with a plate of antipasti or spaghetti carbonara, say, and they spring into life. Italians by and large don’t want wines with overt fruit flavours, too much oak or overly high levels of alcohol, because they overwhelm their fundamentally simple food, which tends to respect both the raw ingredient and the season in which you’re serving it.

Interestingly, I often find that people who are new to wine enjoy pinot grigio for that very reason – it doesn’t have too much flavour. It’s easy to be sniffy about that, and there are some cynically made commercial examples to be sure, but it can also be an enjoyably easy-drinking companion to a simple spring meal, especially if it’s from one of the supermarkets’ premium ranges, which tend to come from Trentino; gavi and gavi di gavi are also popular, I think, for a similar reason – Asda, for example, has a gavi in its Extra Special range for £9.25 that is often, though not currently, on promotion. The other virtue of Italian whites is that they are relatively inexpensive. The regular price of the Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi in today’s pick, for instance, is only £7.25 in store at the Co-op (and a little more online ).

For more by Fiona Beckett, go to fionabeckett.substack.com

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UK vineyards are sprouting as far north as Yorkshire and Scotland as investors cash in on tax breaks and hotter summers

“We’ve never had frost here,” says Adrian Pike, gesturing across rows of vines just starting to show signs of tiny buds in the weak Kent spring sunshine.

Westwell vineyard is on the site of a former monastery and sits close to the Pilgrims’ Way on the North Downs, the historic route to Canterbury that runs along the top of the hill behind the vineyard.

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Spring forward into a light reds – look for grapes such as cinsault, gamay, and pinot noir or bardolino

Although I argued last week that, since Easter was early this year, we should drink as if it was still winter, a week can be as long a time in the wine world as it is in politics. So, all of seven days later, and with the clocks going forward in the UK tonight, I’m now advocating you switch into light red mode.

In fact, those are the sort of reds I like most of the time, but I appreciate that many people regard them as a bit wimpy. Not that winemakers think that way so much these days: overall, wine styles are getting lighter and fresher, and not just from the traditional regions of Beaujolais, Burgundy and the Loire; you’ll also now find lighter reds in Australia, such as the sangiovese in today’s pick below, as well as in South Africa and Chile.

For more by Fiona Beckett, go to fionabeckett.substack.com

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A wide spread of lots of different dishes is my usual go-to, but at Easter I’m more than happy to let one (semi-)traditional main steal the show

Easter is perhaps the only traditional meal for which I’m happy to let one dish dominate. Normally, I’m all about the spread: a table full of food where all sorts – meat and veg, salad and fish – sit side by side as equals. There is something about a shoulder of lamb, though, packed full of flavour and cooked slowly until it’s more or less falling apart, that’s so symbolically tied up with both the season and the occasion that it turns me into a meat-and-two-veg sort of cook. Well, maybe a few more than two, but still, there’s a lot of space on the table reserved for the centrepiece.

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The big supermarkets roll out the multibuy deals around Easter time, but if you can remember to support your local indie, too

Early Easters are tricky from a wine point of view: you feel as if it should be properly spring by the end of March, but it’s so often not (it’s only 3C outside as I’m writing this, a couple of weeks ahead). My instinct, then, is to be cautious and behave as if it’s still winter, not least because very few people are going to complain about a full-bodied red or the lack of a rosé.

The good thing about Easter, however, is that you’re not as hidebound by tradition as at Christmas, say, so you can branch out a bit with your wine choices. This is also one of the main times of the year when there are plenty of deals out there. I often feel vaguely guilty about directing you to supermarket multibuys, but the fact is that we could all do with that kind of saving these days (and if that doesn’t apply to you, you’ll probably be getting your wine recommendations from the FT anyway).

For more by Fiona Beckett, go to fionabeckett.substack.com

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