£9.50, The Wine Society, £12.95 The Black Dog Wine Company
I loved this dry rosé when I tasted it newly shipped in April and I liked it even more when I tasted it recently in a gargantuan ‘blind’ tasting. Not being able to see what you’re tasting (the bottles are masked, not the tasters) is the ultimate test: all you can see is the colour – in this case a very pale pink (paler than it looks in the photo). It smells and tastes just as pretty and fresh as it looks, with the fragrance and flavour of wild strawberries. It goes without saying that it makes a perfect summer aperitif but it also has enough weight to go with food – barbecued fish, air-dried hams and salami, or pretty well anything you might be having on a picnic. All we need now is picnic weather.
Domaine de Mourchon Loubié Rosé, Séguret Côtes du Rhône Villages 2015, Rhône, France
£9.50, The Wine Society, thewinesociety.com (if you're not already a member of The Wine Society, membership costs a one-off £40); £12.95, The Black Dog Wine Company, blackdogwines.co.uk; £12.99 The Wine Company, thewinecompany.co.uk