Wine of the week: sheer class in a glass

2023 Lirac Blanc, La Fermade, Domaine Maby, Southern Rhône, France

£13.95, thewinesociety.com

Looking back at my previous 971 MoneyWeek wine columns, I was shocked but not that surprised to discover that I have written up this white wine more than any other. Ignoring the price for a second, which makes it one of the finest value whites on Earth, the sheer class in the glass is staggering.

Made from a blend of grenache blanc, clairette, picpoul and ugni blanc, and with no oak employed whatsoever, this is a pristinely clean and uplifting white wine with a flavour unlike any other I can think of. There are faint hints of stone fruit on the nose and gorgeous succulence on the midpalate, but in reality, this is not a run-of-the-mill white Rhône, because there is tension and verve here in place of oiliness and exoticism, which I often find slightly off-putting.

If you sketched the silhouette of this beautiful white wine, it would be identical to a racy Chablis, just with a subtly different flavour profile. It is a style of white wine that few would intentionally pick off the shelf, because Lirac is not a particularly well-known appellation, and its white wines are scarce (only about 10% of Lirac is white), but it is an absolute joy. Bursting with freshness and verve, this is a classic white wine for all-year-around drinking, and I can imagine it performing miracles at summer parties this year.

Take a break from Chablis, save a tenner, and reward your palate with one of the most remarkable wines I have found this year. Who would have imagined that a Lirac blanc would be the reigning MoneyWeek white wine champion?

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).