Oddbins is offering an amazing white wine from Greece for around £6: the 2006 Xerolithia, from the hills of Peza, using the Vilana grape (that’s one more variety done!), indigenous to Crete. This zippy, nicely acidic wine is sadly pulled down by an almost-too-heavy body. The wine is widely complex for a white in this price range and can be consumed only a few degrees below room temperature: 8.8.

Another Oddbins offering, this time from Portugal, needs to be served very cold for the greatest enjoyment. The 2006 Portal da Águia Branco, from wine producer Quinta da Alorna, is from Ribatejo, smack dab in the centre of the country. This wine is zippy and perfect for warm and hot days (throw over some ice, drink with a straw). Lemon zest and some pineapple. Light, airy and very simple. Clear as straw, so it’s overfiltered, and the stainless steel fermentation is a bit too overpowering, but that’s just being picky, for wine that’s costs 5 quid. The wine is a blend of Fernão Pires and Arinto grapes (that’s two more!). These grapes are native to Portugal and flourish in the arrid environment. It’s is becoming more and more popular for the Portuguese to stick to their own. InterWined loves that pluck: 8.5.

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