Every grape has its day. The list , which includes a grenache day, a cabernet sauvignon day and a chardonnay day, is becoming as common as saints days. Somewhat greedily, the Germans are now claiming the whole of July for their riesling grape. The 31 Days of German Riesling sees restaurants and independent retailers running promotions with tastings and events. To find out who’s signed up to take part, check out www.31daysofgermanriesling.co.uk.

Frankly, I see no reason why every day of the year shouldn’t be a riesling day, or, failing that every warm summer’s day at least. Is there any better wine than a mouthwatering riesling for a summer of, er, sunshine and sporting endeavour? With its combination of intense flavour, lightness of being and sharp, appetizing tang, German riesling is uniquely refreshing and delightful. Thanks to its range of styles, we can enjoy the drier wines for their food-matching affinities and the sweeter whites for their indulgent pleasure-giving properties.

Over the years, German riesling’s reputation has suffered from complicated names, association with lesser grapes like Italico Riesling and the abomination of watery liebfraumilch. It takes a while to re-build, but since the early 1990s, German riesling really has been doing just that. Its dry whites are richer, more complex and more savoury than the thin, acidic wines of yesteryear. Its sweeter styles from featherweight kabinett, through juicier, sweeter spätlese to delicately thrilling auslese and beyond, get better and better, aided and abetted by a series of vintages in which nature has smiled on Germany.

Too much of the UK wine trade puts riesling in the too hard basket. There are a few brave souls however who believe in the product enough to go out on a limb and focus entirely or almost entirely on German riesling. The specialist Howard Ripley (02087482608) for instance, is offering both dry and sweet riesling from the cracking 2012 vintage en primeur with great wines from the likes of Schäfer-Fröhlich, Van Volxem, Keller, Peter Lauer and Fritz Haag. The Wine Barn (www.thewinebarn.co.uk) is another specialist with a mouthwatering list and David Motion’s The Winery (02072866475) in Maida Vale a riesling lovers’ paradise.

Among thirstquenching rieslings to try this summer, Tanners (01743234500) does a fine job with its own brand 2011 Tanners Mosel Riesling Kabinett, £10.95, a bantamweight Mosel riesling from Max Ferdinand Richter with lovely juicy ripe fresh pear fruitiness. Also from the fine 2011 vintage, immerse yourself in the 2011 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett, Paulinshof, £15.56 - £16.50, Morrisons, Great Western Wine (01225322810) with its refreshing spritz, appley bite and exotic lemon and lime citrusy character, or the delicately fragrant 2011 Losen Bockstanz Riesling Slate Spätlese, Wittlicher Portnersberg feinherb, Mosel , £9.99 virginwines.com, a riesling full of juicy, off-dry pineappley clarity of flavour.

Something for the Weekend

Something for the Weekend 20 July

Night In

2007 Lacroix, Bordeaux Supérieur

Château Teyssier’s Jonathan Maltus, the St.Emilion producer behind the cult wine Le Dôme, is also responsible for this ripe, sweetly cherryish claret with its underpinning of vanilla and chocolatey oak and a finishing with lively bite and grip. Bargain. £7.99, buy 2 = £5.99, Majestic.

Dinner Party

2012 Sélection des Cognettes, Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine sur Lie

This seafood-friendly bone dry Atlantic white bursts onto the tongue with an energetic spritz and follows through like any textbook muscadet sur lie should with a combination of ripe appley fruit etched with a saline kick and lemon sherbety tang. £9.95, Roberson.

Splash Out

2010 Brancott Estate Chosen Rows Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough

Pricey, but this pure expression of sauvignon blanc is exotically intense in its nettley fragrance and its rich gooseberry fruit quality, sliced through by a switchblade of flinty acidity. £35 - £41, Lay & Wheeler, Harvey Nichols.