An Occasional Tipple: Wonderful white wine to soothe holiday pain ​

It’s a feeling most of us know and get to experience at least once a year. I write to you on the final day of my summer holidays- spent in Tokyo having an amazing time which sadly is now consigned to memory.

Back to work in the morning. Usually, a delicate emotional state such as mine calls for a stiff drink but given that the alarm clock has just now been set for 6 am, that seems like a bad idea.

Not that any of this should concern you. For although I’m writing to you on a bleak Monday evening, you’ll be reading this on what hopes will be a warm and sunny Saturday morning.

You’ll probably be wondering at this point whether I’m ever actually going to go back to work and perhaps get on with recommending some pleasant and palatable vino for you to enjoy at a reasonable price. And the answer is that yes, dear tipplers, yes, I will do so even if my heart isn’t truly in it, for I am nothing if not a professional. Here goes.

First among near equals but just about gaining the nod by no more than the shortest of short heads to be sure to be sure to be sure as today’s WINE OF THE WEEK is the remarkably lush, fabulously fragrant and opulently golden 2022 Kimbao Sauvignon Blanc (£12.99, Naked Wines, visit www.nakedwines.com).

A pronounced attack of citrussy and mineral flavours is enhanced by subtle, understated nutty aromatics and soothing backnotes of toast and honey.

Unctuous and heady, this sophisticated Chilean white will also be an ideal match to subtly spiced fish or poultry dishes.

This is a white wine to be savoured. However, a confession to make. When we get properly hot, sunny weather, I prefer to set my connoisseur’s Panama Hat to one side and just get stuck into copious amounts of cheap, refreshing and gloriously uncomplicated white wine. Plonk. Which I suspect is rhyming slang for vin blanc.

Should the sun deign to provide us with some actual warmth, my second recommendation is the easy-drinking, versatile and very upbeat 2023 Caparelli Soave (£4.75, Tesco).

This fresh, zesty Italian white is full of bright citrus and peach flavours on a complex palate alongside notes of almond and hazelnut before a lingering finish.

That concludes my professional duties for today. I will therefore return to my initial complaint. Holidays offer us a glimpse of the lives we’d love to lead before dumping us back into our actual lives, thereby compounding our misery. And yet if we think back to life before the holiday, it wasn’t so bad, was it? Nothing that a blast of sunshine wouldn’t cure.

And there’s the trick. Start planning the next break. For life only seems bleak when we’ve nothing much to look forward to. Like me, right now. Till next week, tipplers, sante!