Wine of the week: a bracingly dry, complex white

2010 Vouvray Sec Ammonite, Alexandre Monmousseau, Loire (£10.30, £9.28 by the case, Haynes, Hanson & Clark, 020-7584 7927, www.hhandc.co.uk).

I rocked up to the wine merchants HHC the other day for a fabulous wine tasting with the ever-genial Jim Eustace. Loire and Burgundy always form the cornerstones of my tastings with Jim, but he chucked in a few smart Bordeaux and a number of other oddities, too, for good measure. If you are looking to bolster your house claret' selection, why not load up with 2008 Chteau Haut-Colombier, which looked suave and swaggering at only £11.85. A devastating 2010 Falanghina Taburno from Campania was sensational too, and it took me immediately back to the Amalfi coast with its sea spray and stone fruit nuances.

If you are tiring of Kiwi sauvignon blanc, and find sancerre often a little dear, then look to 2010 La Galope from Gascony (£9.15) and discover truly perfect balance. The star of the show was this dry Vouvray. Ammonite is breathtakingly beautiful with whispering floral notes and a heavenly finish. This style of wine is usually off-dry or sweet, and it is so lovely to see a bracingly dry chenin blanc with masses of class and drama in the glass. A modern, pretty, everyday wine with more complexity than seems possible I don't find these very often.

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