Luis Pato Vinhas Velhas Branco 2010, VR Beiras (£10.95 The Wine Society)
Lovely mix of richness and restraint, with quite weight honeyed pear and apple flavours sharing the stage with more precise minerally freshness and acidity, and with some exotic musky ginger characters too. S(-)

Boas Vinhas Dão Branco 2010 (£9.15 Jascots)
Plush peach and passionfruit flavours plus fresher apple and citrus notes, with a pine-resin-like character evident throughout. Decent but just lacks a little zing. B(-)

Vinha da Urze Douro Branco (CARM) 2008 (£8.99 Marks & Spencer)
Pleasant aromas of herb scented nectarine and apricot, but while there’s a minerally tang here to add character, it’s losing freshness – they should be selling 2010 or even 2011, not 2008. C

Quinta do Quetzal Alentejo Branco Reserva 2009 (N/A in UK)
Feels like a Portuguese take on a certain style of white Rioja, reasonable lemon flavours but they’re struggling to emerge from under a blanket of sweet vanilla and smoky coconut from slightly heavy-handed use of oak. B-