These blondes will leave you breathless –  Whitey picks three extreme blondes in the wild south-west.

Now we’re talkin’. This wine bears no resemblance at all to Hunter Valley Semillon or Niewzillun Savvy-b. The dark methoxypyrazine/tomato-leaf acridity of the Sauvignon is so mellow here that it seems simply to add the gentlest acrid hint to the buttery loquat of the Semillon. The wine has a viscous but grainy quince/pear texture. It also brings Sapodilla and Cherimoya fruits to mind. The tannins are like the furry skins of those fruits. Firm but unobtrusive acid helps draw the whole hit out into a lengthy, drily delicious business. The overall feeling reflects the warmer conditions of 2013: all those alcohols stack up to a number that would normally deter me with a blend like this. But the wine’s such a cosy puppyfat squish I’ll forgive it. It sometimes seems more like a new white variety rather than a blend of two that are so familiar. It sure is a blonde, whichever eyeline you take. Lamb korma with spinach would set it curling a rather provocative, sensual dance: the yoghurt would complement that Breathless Mahoney alcohol. (Breathless, for those who came in late, was the steaming blonde in Dick Tracy, famous for interchanges like this: Mahoney: “I’m wearing black underwear.” Tracy: “You know, it’s legal for me to take you down to the station and sweat it out of you under the lights.” Mahoney: “I sweat a lot better in the dark.”)

14% alcohol; screw cap