Best buys at Majestic: The wines to seek out right now

I'm a big fan of the Pinot Meunier grape, but sceptical about what 1% in this blend would add to the wine! Nonetheless this new listing is a delicious addition to the strong line-up of Champagne alternatives on offer at Majestic. Almost bone-dry (3.4g/L residual sugar), the wine has spent a minimum of 14 months on lees in the bottle, and has a creamy, luxuriant feel, with notes of red apple, stone fruit and some bready autolytic richness. There's a good weight to it, and it finishes with a toasty and juicy length. I'd be very happy enjoying this with smoked salmon blinis on Christmas morning. Available from late October. Mix six price: £17

If you see the word 'Rive' on a Prosecco bottle, you can expect a good quality level. 'Riva' means 'steep slope' in Italian, and there are 43 officially designated 'Rive', steep, high-altitude vineyards, in the already more prestigious Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG. Made with around 8g/L residual sugar – around the same as a standard Brut Champagne – this isn't a saccharine-sweet Prosecco, but an attractive, aperitif-style fizz, with a soft mousse, crisp green apple fruit and a tangy, lemon drop freshness. Undemanding, and smartly packaged. Available from mid-November. Mix-six price: £13

This Portuguese white, new to Majestic, is a stunner – and a must-buy for Burgundy lovers looking for affordable alternatives. It's made from the Encruzado grape, which is often compared to Chardonnay, and tasting it blind, many would put it in Burgundy not Dão. Spicy oak defines this wine, but it's well integrated – the wine is fermented in steel and then partially oak aged, so it doesn't overwhelm. Add to this intense aromas of hawthorn blossom and stone fruit, and you have a classy, complex wine for the price. Mix six price £12

There's something a bit wine and unfettered about this old-vine Semillon, which comes from a vineyard planted in 1983 containing now-rare plantings of the Madeira Semillon clone. These old vines produce very low yields of grapes, which are hand harvested before being whole-bunch pressed and fermented with natural wild yeasts. Around a quarter of the wine is fermented and aged in oak puncheons, with time on lees adding creamy, rich texture, and the wine is bottled unfined. This isn't a purchase for those who like something fruit-driven and easy to pin down. But it's a great choice for wine adventurers – firm and oak framed, smoky, savoury and waxy, with old-vine complexity. Will improve with age, too. Available from late November, only 300 12-bottle cases were produced. Mix six price: £18

A good buy at under £20 on the mix six price (£18), and made by a winemaking family with deep roots in the region, this is classic Chablis – flinty, taut and structured, but with texture from undergoing malolactic conversion and then 10 months on lees before bottling. You could choose to age this for another few years, but it's delicious now, expressive in a mineral way, and a great option for the table.

The Leyda Valley in Chile is a good go-to for a fresh, green, less tropical style of New World Sauvignon Blanc, and Leyda Estate was the first producer to plant vineyards here, in the late 1990s. The price of this Majestic exclusive, on sale from mid-November, is punchy, but this is benchmark cool-climate Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, expressive and aromatic with delicious grassy, green pepper and snow pea, and juicy but crisp acidity. Mix six price: £13

Coming across this in the Chardonnay line-up made me feel old – Emma Marris is daughter of Brent, the winemaking talent behind New Zealand runaway success brand The Ned. Emma joined the winemaking team at her father's company almost a decade ago after studying in Australia and international winemaking experience in France and the US. The fruit for this wine comes from Marlborough's Waihopai Valley, and is barrel fermented and aged in oak on lees for 10 months, with lees stirring, and malolactic conversion for softer acidity. There is some ripe peach, stone fruit flavour here, but it's the oak that's in the driving seat, smoky, toasty and nutty, with some struck-match reductive character. A good value buy if you like this style of Chardonnay. Mix six price £12.50

Pouco Comum translates as 'uncommon', and indeed most examples of this grape on the UK high street are Albariño from Spain's Galicia region. From grapes grown on granite and schist, this unoaked wine displays a lovely depth of ripe peach and stone fruit flavour, and a hint of minerality. Three months on fine lees lend weight and texture. There's a touch of residual sugar (6g/L), but it manifests as juicy fruit character and there’s a long, persistent finish. A great choice for spicy dishes. Mix-six price £11.50.

Very competitive at the mix six price of £11, this crisp and fresh Vermentino is made by one of Italy's leading co-operative wineries, and the overarching philosophy in minimal intervention in the vineyard and winery. Fermented in steel and then aged on lees in concrete for a few months, this has good weight and length, warm lemon balm zestiness and an lick of salinity. Pour a glass with a plate of seafood, and cling on to summer!

The Ned dry Sauvignon Blanc is on shelves everywhere, but you'll only find this sweet version at Majestic. The half-bottle is a perfect size to serve with blue cheese at the end of a meal. Made from botrytised grapes and packing 181g/L residual sugar, it's an explosion of fruit salad flavours, pineapple to the fore. Sugary, but fresh and lifted, with good acidity – this will have wide appeal. Mix six price £13