£19.99, Selfridges
Visiting British Columbia’s breathtaking Okanagan Valley for the first time last year was one of the most eye-opening wine trips I’ve been on. There’s so much more to Canadian wine than Ice Wine. Read more about my trip here, but don’t stop at that: check out the wines Selfridges has this month in its special focus on Okanagan and Canadian wine. I could have chosen any number of varieties for this week’s wine (Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Noir…) but I’ve chosen a Chardonnay not just because I’ve never fallen out of love with Chardonnay but because this one, from an organically farmed, cool, mountain-bench vineyard at 487 metres, epitomises for me the energy and optimism typical of Okanagan wines.
On the nose, vibrant freshness plays against smoky, creamy complexity and on the palate generous ripe fruit and rich texture are reined in by reverberating grapefruit and green-apple acidity. It's unoaked and was fermented slowly with native yeasts in egg-shaped concrete tanks and then remained on its gross lees for eight months. Dive in with marinated, barbecued chicken, fish pie, crab salads, pasta dishes with the likes of ricotta, peas and lemon, or just sit back and drink it on its own. 13%
Haywire Secrest Mountain Chardonnay 2017, Okanagan Valley BC, Canada
£19.99, Selfridges