Wine: the litmus test - how to find a sharp wine that suits your palate | Fiona Beckett on drinks

The other day I was talking to a couple who import food from Lebanon and they noticed that a lot of people find their pomegranate molasses too sour. But in fact theirs is a more authentic product than many we get in the UK, designed for Lebanese rather than British tastes, and designed to give dishes a boost, especially those made with meat. I liked it a lot, but it underscored how much people's palates vary. I generally like drinks that are high in acidity, for example, but if you have a sweeter tooth, you can't. And there is nothing wrong with that. After all, you would never condemn someone for liking cake more than cheese.

This Lebanese example also suggests that it can also be a question of where you come from and what you are used to. Italian wines, for example, are not particularly fruity and, in the case of reds like Chianti and Albarossa in today's pick, have quite high acidity, which suits Italian cuisine particularly well. .

It also depends on what you eat. If an ingredient is salted or pickled, for example, it will accentuate the sweetness of a wine, perhaps to an extent that is not comfortable for you, which is why really dry wines like Muscadet, Picpoul pinet, chablis and albariño work so well with saline shellfish like oysters and clams.

If you're sensitive to sharpness, meanwhile, you can still taste wines that are typically tart, as long as you go for a rounder, fruitier one: New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, with its lush passion fruit character, for example, rather than a Sancerre, while that Provençal rosé is actually quite dry and crisp, but has a smoothness and delicate fruitiness that compensates for this; oak aging will also sweeten and round a wine, while sweetness, as is common in Riesling, will offset it.

On the other hand, if you enjoy the taste of sharpness and acidity, look for descriptors such as 'crispy' and 'refreshing', which Tesco's product development manager, Graham Nash, told me they (understandably) prefer to the word a . You'll also find it more present in younger wines, unoaked wines and low-alcohol wines like Waitrose's Loved & Found Sauvignon Gris 2021 (£7.99, 12%), a light, lemony variant Sauvignon that tastes like a squeeze. fresh lemon juice.

Keep in mind that all wines, especially whites and rosés, need some acidity to be balanced, otherwise they would just taste flat and saggy. And if it doesn't happen naturally, acid is sometimes added during the winemaking process (there's a good, simple explanation on the Wine Folly site, by the way).

Vin de France Resilience Chenin Blanc Alexandre Cady 2020 £9.95 The Wine Society, 12.5%. Chenin Blanc can be quite rich, but this pure, beautifully crisp example would be perfect with shellfish. (Good story too - check the Wine Society website.)

Petit Chablis 2021 £14 Marks & Spencer and Ocado, 12%. Not quite the bargain it once was, but an absolutely classic Chablis to enjoy with seafood. A light, delicate and refreshing red that will go wonderfully with antipasti. Like a somewhat rustic and much less expensive Barolo. The Loved & Found Sauvignon Gris (£7.99, 12%) also hits this high spot.

Campriano Chianti Colli Senesi 2019 £13.25 (or £11.65 per case) Haynes Hanson & Clark, 13%. Classic Chianti: pure, delicate but intense. As good with a stew as with a roast.

Castel Faglia Franciacorta Brut