Albariño v Vermentino, two breakout white wine stars

The breakout wine stars of this long hot summer, at least according to the anecdata I’ve collected from wine merchants and the glasses I’ve been handed at friends’ houses, are two white grape varieties that have been next big thing-ing around the place for a while now.

Both albariño and vermentino have the capacity to hit the sweet cooling spot after a day spent trudging around in what feels like a perpetual warm bath. Both, too, are now well into that journey undertaken by the likes of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio before them, where they begin to transcend their specific origins and become a brand in their own right.

Albariño is perhaps making the biggest cool splash away from its home in the far, Atlantic-cooled northwestern corner of Iberia. Until the 2010s, Spain’s Galicia (and especially the Cornwall-alike Rías Baixas zone that spans the estuarine inlets in the region’s southwest) and northern Portugal’s Vinho Verde (where it’s known as alvarinho) were really the only places growing albariño to any great extent. This patch is still the source of most of my favourite examples of a grape that combines a salted-citrus zestiness and freshness with juicy white peach, pear and apricot juiciness, wines such as the pin-sharp Waitrose No. 1 La Val Albariño, Rías Baixas 2025 (£14), the tangy, tingling Mendes & Symington Contacto Alvarinho, Vinho Verde 2025 (from £16, thewinesociety.com; drinkfinder.co.uk); and the super-saline Pazo Señorans Albariño 2024 (£23.99, virginwines.co.uk).

But it’s coming in increasingly stylish form from vineyards in South Africa, California, New Zealand, Uruguay and the south of France, too, with the delicately floral, breezy fresh Bleu d’Alba Albariño, Pays d’Oc 2025 (£14, tanners-wines.co.uk) from the Languedoc in southern France; the jasmine-floral-inflected nectarine and gentle grapefruit pithiness of M&S Juanicó Albariño, 2025 (£10, Marks & Spencer) from coastal Canelones in Uruguay, and Nautilus Estate Albariño 2024 (£25.99, montyswineemporium.com), a Galician-dead-ringer from prime sauvignon blanc country in Marlborough, New Zealand.

Although it probably originated inland in Piedmont in northwest Italy, I’ve come to think of vermentino as albariño’s mediterranean twin, since it is established across Mediterranean Italy and France, including Corsica and Sardinia. At its best it offers a ripple of ripe citrus, that can run from lemon and lime to mandarin orange and grapefruit: there’s something of the eye-watering artificial tang of Starburst chews (that’s Opal Fruits if you’re of my generation or older) in simpler examples, but the best, like albariño, may bring a hint of something saline along with the zest, pith and juice of real fresh citrus fruit and a leafy herbal character.

The vast Sicilian cooperative Cantine Settesoli offers a good introduction to vermentino with peach-and-pear and subtle floral dimension along with lemony acidity in an easy-drinking style in the shape of Settesoli Vermentino 2024 (£8, Tesco); a step-up comes from Languedoc producer Domaine les Yeuses Vermentino, Pays d’Oc 2025 (£12.50, leaandsandeman.co.uk), which positively sings with freshly squeezed lime and leafy herbs and feels like an ice-cool hand on a hot head; and the same retailer, the excellent London outfit Lea & Sandeman, takes things up another notch in sophistication and precision with the gorgeous Tuscan Pagliatura Vermentino Toscana 2025 (£20.95, leaandsandeman.co.uk), a dry white wine with an albariño-like burst of sweetly dripping nectarine and a swish of pure lemon-and-lime coursing through the palate.

Beyond the Med, Australian and South African winemakers have been increasingly drawn to Mediterranean varieties, and vermentino is no exception. I loved the endlessly drinkable mix of citrussy pithiness and Alka Seltzer minerals with juicy nectarine found in Bin No. 20 Margaret River Vermentino 2025 (£13.50, thewinesociety.com), while South Africa’s Bacco Estate Bacio del Sole Vermentino, Paarl 2025 (£19.25, oxfordwine.co.uk) is beautifully layered with peach and lemon and another wine designed for long warm nights in this longest, hottest of summers.