£10, but £8 on current offer, Tesco
A new wine from a single vineyard, Lachica, in the Limari Valley, one of Chile’s most northerly wine regions. It's relatively close to the sea and has a dry, fairly cool climate – all good for wine growing – but even more critically it has some of Chile's rare limestone soils, which Chardonnay loves (think white Burgundy). The limestone influence shows in the characteristic mineral freshness. This wine, made by Marcelo Papa of Concha y Toro, has a pithy, zesty lime and sweet lemon intensity and a streak of saline, sea-breeze minerality that all come together in a supple, rounded whole. A small proportion was aged in oak barrels, not for an oaky flavour but to give the polished smoothness and extra breadth. You can drink it on its own, but it‘s a good wine for fish and seafood, including lightly spiced, as well as for chicken, risotto and pasta (e.g. ricotta and spinach or pumpkin and walnut ravioli). It would work with vegetable gratins and other dishes where there’s a bit of cream, or béchamel, or hollandaise sauce. 13.5%.
Finest Chardonnay Valle del Limari 2017, Limari Valley, Chile
£10, but on offer at £8 until 11 November 2018, Tesco