Every so often, a supermarket takes pity on us and gives a generous wine discount for a limited period. They play their cards close to their chest and details emerge only shortly beforehand with veiled threats to excommunicate any press who don’t play ball. Some offers are more anticipated than others, but Waitrose’s 25 per cent off any six bottles or more (until this coming Tuesday) really is an offer not to be spurned. And if you don’t have a store near you, the discount also applies to any 12 bottles bought at waitrosewine.com.

Compared to the disingenuous bogof (buy-one-get-one-free), it’s an honest offer that not only encourages us to spend a bit extra to raise the quality of our wine drinking, but to stock up on summer and party quaffers and lay in our fizz for impending anniversaries. In the latter case, the effervescently fresh and creamy Cuvée Royale Crémant de Limoux Brut, moves down from £10.99, to £7.99, Hampshire’s terrifically tangy 2008 Jenkyn Place Sparkling Brut from £21.99 to £16.50, and the classiest act in the range, the delicate, toasty Champagne Pol Roger Pure Extra Brut, from £42.99 to £32.25.

There’s no shortage of excellent dry whites for summer sipping, among them a classically styled, delicately herbal and textured 2012 Domaine Masson-Blondelet Pouilly Fumé , from £14.99 to £11.25, or for its tasty budget version, the crisp, gooseberryish and tangy fresh 2012 Waitrose Sauvignon Blanc Touraine, cheekily down from £7.99 to £5.99. Austria’s grüner veltliner is generally a good summery bet and the 2012 Domäne Wachau Terraces Grüner Veltliner, £9.99 down to £7.49, is no exception, a vivid fresh peppery dry zesty white from the Wachau on the Danube.

Piedmont’s arneis grape in the 2012 Malvira Roero Arneis, from £10.99 to £7.99, brings freshness and fragrance to a mouthful of juicy-peach fruit flavour that finishes stylishly dry, while Iberia’s 2012 Sogrape Quinta de Azevedo, from £7.49 to £5.62, is the perfect, zippy fresh picnic quaffer and Spain’s godello grape succeeds superbly with intense stonefruit and honey-flecked concentration in the 2011 Valdesil Godello from Valdeorras, from £15.99 to £11.99. And from Jerez, how about a mouthwateringly sea-salty-savoury Waitrose Fino, £from £6.99 to £5.24?

Best summery budget buys include the bright red-fruited 2011 Vega Ariana, from £6.49 to £4.87 and, almost given away, the fresh berry and plummy 2012 Cuvée Chasseur, from £4.95 to £3.71. Burgundy lovers will appreciate the classic pinot noir fragrance and seductive fraise du bois delicacy of the textured and stylish 2008 Louis Jadot Beaune Premier Cru, £20.99, down to £15.74, while more adventurous souls will find New Zealand’s 2012 Escarpment 'The Edge' Pinot Noir from Martinborough from £13.99 to £10.49, a model of hugely satisfying peppery fragrance and the delicately spiced raspberry and mulberry fruitiness.

Something for the Weekend

Something for the Weekend 15 June 2013

Night In

2008 Piccini Sasso Al Poggio, Tuscany

In its new Taste Test, Morrisons puts this aromatic and succulently dark cherryish Tuscan sangiovese with its polished veneer of spicy oak in the ‘Intense’ category, a wise choice indeed. £8.99, down from £12.99, Morrisons, in store and online.

Dinner Party

2011 Paulett’s Polish Hill Riesling

From Pauletts in South Australia’s Clare Valley, the promising intensely fresh lime-zesty fragrance of this stylish riesling delivers on fruit quality with mouthwateringly tropical citrus zesty fresh fruit and a tangy bone dry finish. £13.74, buy 2 = £10.99, Majestic.

Splash Out

2011 Tournon Mathilda Shiraz, Victoria, Australia

The seductively scented cinnamon spicy aroma of this elegant Aussie shiraz from the Rhône’s ebullient Michel Chapoutier resembles spice and pepper Crozes-Hermitage with an extra dash of Aussie opulence combining with a savoury damson-plum bite. £14.99, Marks & Spencer.