It seems appropriate to launch these articles with two aptly seasonal delights - a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and a Pinot Grigio Rosé from Italy - both are plum full of patio appeal and are priced to have you reaching for a second bottle!

Pinot Grigio and Rosé are two wines currently drunk in staggering quantity, so it seemed only a matter of time before somebody made the connection.

As the market for Pinot Grigio becomes global, so the quality inevitably falters - PG won our hearts because of its lithe minerality and delicate fruit, but many are becoming increasingly thin affairs that barely touch the sides.

Really good Italian PG should hail from Trentino in the cool North East of the country, home to the varietal's finest vineyards.

Sanvigilio Pinot Grigio Blush 2005 is a cracking PG from Ca'vit, Trentino's finest producer, and a real Rosé in that the grape's naturally pinky-grey skin is allowed to macerate with the juice to give it an enchantingly blushing, onion-skin hue.

The wine is a delight with a crisp, pebbly palate, disarmingly light peach and peardrop fruit and a refreshingly mineral finish. A lovely summer quaffer.

New Zealand Sauv Blanc has become equally clouded by popularity with producers striving for more and more of the heady signature aromatics whilst losing the grape's inherent finesse to racing abv's (alcolhol by volume) of 14 per cent and more.

There is a small, independent shift towards finer, less blowsy styles that better describe the grape's other qualities.

Ant Moore is a wine maker who left the cult Isabel Estate to set up his own winery, Catalina Sounds, in the cool Waihopi Valley in Southern Marlborough.

Crowded House Sauvignon Blanc 2005 is the latest release of his famously searching sauvignons and is a marvel at £7.95 per bottle.

At only 12 per cent abv the wine is all about intensity and length - this has, indeed, the tell-tale grassy nose but in the mouth is fresh, spring-heeled sauvignon showing restraint, poise and the long, mineral finish of, dare I say it, its French cousin Sancerre.

A fantastic, thoroughly posh drop to refresh and to show your friends you're ahead of the game in New Zealand! Smashing.

Both of these are currently available from Rugby Wines Ltd. Please email customerservice@rugbywines.co.uk