If you want a change from chardonnay and fancy something French and dry, this is one try.

It's a bright straw colour with acacia and toast aromas. On the palate there's a flavour of grapefruit and mango.

This is a nicely balanced dry wine with a spicy finish. Should go well with most fish and salad dishes.

Jurancon is in S.W. France, here the white wine has been made since the Middle Ages. It's a hilly, relatively cool area of 600 hectares near Pau with vineyards situated at about 1000ft.

The main grape used for white wine making is the Gros Manseng whereas its relative Petit Manseng is used for the sweet wine of the area.

Oddbins sell this for £5.99.In the same store for the same price is another wine containing 100% of the same grape variety, this time it's Grüner Veltliner.

I particularly like this wine with food. It has ripe orchard flavours on the nose and a taste of apple, pear and a characteristic white pepper spice on the finish. It's from Austria where this grape accounts for 50% of the Niederostreich area in the N.E. I find it goes well with cod haddock and the like.