Forget big-name chateaux and makers, clever sourcing by large retailers means these classic varieties deliver a hit to your tastebuds, but not your wallet

Chosen by Majestic Grüner Veltliner, Kremstal, Austria 2022 (£10.99, or £8.99 as part of a mixed case of six bottles, Majestic ) It’s one of the surest signs of the difficult economic times that the UK’s wine retailers are putting so much of their attention into the cheapest parts of their ranges. For the supermarkets, that’s translated into a renewed focus on providing own-label wines at around a fiver – no easy task when duty alone will account for more than half of that price come 1 August, with packaging and transport eating up much of the rest. The UK’s largest specialist wine retailer, Majestic, meanwhile is pinning its hopes on holding on to an increasingly straitened middle-class clientele with a new range of sub-£10 own-label wines. All of the 11 initial “Chosen by Majestic” wines come in below a tenner, provided you buy by the case of six bottles, with the subtly pepper-spiced, citrus zesty Austrian Grüner Veltliner among the best of the wines I’ve tried in the series so far.

Chosen By Majestic Rioja Crianza, Rioja, Spain 2020 (£9.99, or £7.99 as part of a mixed case of six bottles, Majestic ) Majestic’s existing, longstanding, and often good-value Definition range has in a sense been promoted by the arrival of Chosen: this is where the company would now like you to spend your money if you’re after classic wines (Barolo, White Burgundy, Sancerre etc) and have more than £10 to spend. Over the years, one of my favourite Definition wines has been the Rioja Reserva which is made for the company by one of the best of the Spanish region’s traditional bodegas, La Rioja Alta, and which has always hit that very particular soft mellow, sweet-and-savoury older Rioja spot, with the current 2018 vintage (£13.99, or £11.99 as part of a mixed six) no exception. For the Chosen range, Majestic has gone to a different producer working with fruit grown in the same part of Rioja, and for a cheaper, younger crianza style: at the £7.99 mixed six price it’s an excellent buy.

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Sauces and syrups at this Malaysian restaurant make for a mighty mess – but in the very best way

It’s always fun when the arrival of dessert is attended with whoops and gasps of childlike glee. At Med Salleh , a Malaysian café in London’s Bayswater, the whoops may well come from the staff. The iced kacang atas, the waiter tells us, was his favourite dessert when he was growing up in Penang. Looking at his broad grin as he delivers it, I think it might still be. Quite right, too. The version here is truly magnificent and deserves to be less served than unveiled. There should be trumpets and bunting, perhaps a Rockettes kick line.

At its heart is a veritable Devil’s Tower of shaved ice. It’s flavoured with fruity syrups. There are roasted peanuts on the outside and kernels of fresh sweetcorn that pop in your mouth. Hidden at the bottom are various nutty red beans and cubes of jelly. There’s a balanced waft of rose syrup, fat dribbles of evaporated milk and, finally, poured over the top from a height, a light caramel sauce. Did it need to be framed by a rushing cumulonimbus of dry ice, as if it was a stage set for a Bonnie Tyler performance on Top of the Pops circa 1983? Perhaps not. Then again with a dish like this we are far beyond any notion of need and nipple-deep into “want” territory.

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Workers at Ivy Collection claim move offsets gains made from UK minimum wage rise

Workers at a chain of restaurants spun out of London celebrity haunt the Ivy say they are losing out after the company cut their share of the service charge paid by diners when the legal minimum wage rose in April.

The Ivy Collection, which operates nearly 40 restaurants in the UK and Ireland, pays all waiters, chefs, some managers and support staff in its outlets the legal minimum wage of £10.42 for over-23s plus an hourly “commission” rate graded to their position and location.

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Spice things up and tuck in: lamb skewers with caper and oregano salsa, garam masala prawns with chilli dressing, and burnt aubergine flatbreads with tahini

In a dream July scenario, plan A might be to be somewhere in the eastern Med, eating charred food off a grill. Plan B would therefore be to set up an outdoor grill anywhere you find yourself (no coast required). And even plan C is pretty cheering: put a griddle pan on the hob, open the kitchen windows and get grilling. Stripes on the outside, smoky, charred flavours on the inside. Inside and outside, inside or outside: everyone’s happy.

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Get overripe fruit cheap from the grocer, then whizz it up into a summery lolly

The other day, our local greengrocer had some very squishy apricots, sweet plums and soft kiwis all baking outside in the sun. I bought them at a knockdown price and turned them into colourful, orange, purple and green ice lollies for our daughter (although, admittedly, I’ll probably eat more of them than she will).

Conscientious greengrocers, like some supermarkets, often sell their imperfect fruit and vegetables at a reduced price, but the payoff is that some, if not all, of it will be too ripe to enjoy whole, so be prepared to process them into a dish, be that an Eton mess, a simple smoothie or today’s popsicles.

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Exclusive: Trading standards body warns shoppers with severe allergies could face ‘tragic consequences’

• What are the rules on labelling vegan food in the UK?

More than a third of foods labelled vegan contained animal products, research has found, prompting experts to warn shoppers with severe allergies they face potentially “tragic consequences”.

Forensic scientists found traces of egg or milk in an array of goods that were labelled as vegan or plant-based, with trading standards bosses calling for legal protection to stop consumers being “exploited by unethical food businesses”.

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Olive oil brine, which is usually reserved for dirty martinis and the like, takes this zingy, fruity mocktail to another level

Before we had TikTok dance challenges, we had the Macarena, a four-step dance routine that required little to no effort and could be performed by just about anyone. The English vocal track to the song we all know, love and now have stuck in our heads is pretty dirty if you stop dancing for a second to listen to the words: it tells the story of a woman who, bored with her boyfriend, fools around with two of his friends. Well, like music, some of the best cocktails are those that are secretly dirty, too. The hit of savoury from olive brine, which is usually reserved for dirty martinis, takes this mocktail from fruity and sweet to perfectly balanced, while the added science-nerd bonus is that the salt from the brine lowers the freezing point of the juices and makes the drink stingingly cold. It’s perfect for cooling off after an energetic dance.

This is an edited extract from Saved By the Bellini & Other 90s-Inspired Cocktails, by John deBary, published by Union Square & Co at £12.99. To order a copy for £11.43, go the guardianbookshop.com

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An incredibly light, almost cloud-like dessert that makes the perfect end to a summer meal

This might not be something you would automatically think to try, but it’s a really fun dessert. When you whip the jelly, it transforms from crystal clear to white and opaque, almost like a cloud. The result is so light and interesting that it makes for the perfect finish to a summer meal, like sweet, citrus-scented air. I was originally inspired to make this after chef Rosy Rong found it in an old English cookbook, and then I found myself standing in the pastry section at St John with a hand whisk and a large bowl. It took for ever!

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It’s fruity and (mostly) cheap, but sometimes sauvignon blanc can full-on. Don’t abandon it, though – try one of these more nuanced examples

How do you feel about sauvignon blanc these days? As enthusiastic as you ever were? Fed up to the back teeth with it? Or does it more depend on which sauvignon?

If you’re in the former camp, you’re now in the majority. Sauvignon is still the white wine we drink most of, and by a considerable margin: we spend twice as much on it as we do on chardonnay, according to the Wine & Spirit Trade Association’s 2023 market report. It’s not hard to see why, either. It’s cheap, or at least a lot of it is. It’s not sharp or overly acidic. And it’s wonderfully fruity. So what’s not to like?

For more by Fiona Beckett, go to fionabeckett.substack.com

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