Sweet on summer: three very different white wines

Domaine du Paparotier Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, France 2014 (£9, Marks & Spencer) The first of my choices this week sounds almost contrary, and certainly unseasonal. It’s a sweet fortified wine, clocking in at 15% alcohol – the kind of thing most of us only really think about drink at Christmas. But Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venises is in many ways the perfect partner for light summery desserts. It’s made from muscat à petits grains grapes grown around the eponymous village against the spiky backdrop of the Dentelles de Montmirail mountains in the provençal warmth of the southern Rhône Valley. The pretty floral aromas, the vivacious grape and peachiness and the trickle of blossomy honey sweetness all conspire so well with a cherry clafoutis, yogurt with syrupy fruit or even a soft blue cheese.

Michele Chiarlo Nivole Moscato’Asti 2015 (from £7.95, 37.5cl, Wine Poole; Corking Wines) Almost any wine made from muscat has something of summer about it – a Pavlovian association the Catalan Torres family is keen to play on by naming its lively off-dry example from Chile’s Itata Valley ‘Days of Summer’ (£6.99, for the 2015, The Co-operative). That wild meadow fragrance can be captured in drier wines, too, notably De Martino Colinas del Itata Field Blend 2014 (£10, M&S) and in the wonderfully steely range of Muscats made by Domaine Dirler-Cadé in Alsace (Vine Trail). For the purest hit of unmediated muscat grape exuberance, however, it’s back to a sweet style, and to Chiarlo’s softly foaming moscato from Piedmont.

Kesselstatt Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett, Mosel, Germany 2014 (£9.99, The Co-operative) Another white grape variety that works well with a spoonful (or several) of sugar while retaining a warm weather-ready lightness of touch and freshness is riesling. In classic German sweet rieslings you can have some idea of just how sweet and viscous the wine will be on the label, with Trockenbeerenauslese the most honeyed and Kabinett the most delicate. From the Mosel, Kesselstatt’s Kabinett is a nice example of riesling raciness with the sugar barely noticeable against the trebly pluck of acidity – low in alcohol, and interleaving lime and peach, it works very well with Thai and Vietnamese salads. At the other end of the spectrum – and from the other side of the world – Siefried Sweet Agnes Riesling, Nelson, New Zealand 2015 (£13.99, 37.5c, Waitrose) is superb with cheese, and a honey-drizzled exotic fruit dessert all by itself.

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