After a rained-off summer, a hot, sweet-and-sour Thai green curry or a fiery, vinegar and chilli-spiked vindaloo is what’s wanted now. But what to drink with it?

Strange though it sounds, the spices used in most curries are very wine-friendly. After much experimentation, the best all-purpose red that I have found is beaujolais, whose tart acidity, minimal tannin and gamay fruit are a winner with most curries.

Best served chilled to minimise red-hot spices, Sainsbury’s tasty 2007 Taste the Difference Beaujolais-Villages is made by the king of beaujolais, Georges Duboeuf, and its lively, leafy plummy fruit is yours for £5.99. A decent, flavour-charged pink is another all-purpose curry wine.

If you are quick there is still time to grab the wondrous Aussie pink, 2008 Wildcard Rosé from Peter Lehmann, yours for a bargain £4 at Asda, before it is discontinued next month. Anyone on the lookout for an all-purpose spicy white, especially good with Thai green curry, should try the zesty, juicy, lime peel-scented non-vintage Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne for £3.79 at Sainsbury’s.

This week’s best buys

2008 Four Crossings Reserve Semillon-Chardonnay, South Eastern Australia
Co-op, down to £3.49 until Tuesday.

Banish the back-to-school blues with this budget pair; the light, yet ripe, citrusy ll.5 per cent Australian white should see you through the autumn.

2008 Four Crossings Reserve Shiraz, South Eastern Australia
Co-op, down to £3.49 until Tuesday.

An easy-swigging autumnal Australian red companion to the white, left, with crowd-pleasing fat, spicy, vanilla and chocolate-spiked berry fruit.

2008 The Bernard Series Hand-picked Viognier, Bellingham, South Africa
Majestic Wine Warehouses, £9.99 or buy two for £7.49 each until September 28.

A Top 100 winner that failed to get on shelf in time, so tuck in to this alluring, strong, oaky, perfumed, peachy 14 per cent viognier now.

2008 Iona Elgin Sauvignon Blanc, South Africa
Majestic £12.99, or buy two for £9.74 each until September 28.

One of my favourite Cape sauvignons, with so much classic, elegant, lively, floral, nettle and white currant fruit that it will shock even the French.

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