Get out the bunting - it's English Wine Week

In years past, that may have prompted a chortle and snort from wine snobs, but there are some tipples, predominantly from the sunny south, of course, but some from Yorkshire too, that can hold their own these days.

Just ask Pairings, the wine bar in Castlegate, York, who are so confident in this nation's wine quality that they are celebrating EWW by offering two English wine "flights" from today until a week tomorrow, priced at £12.50 or £7.50 depending on whether you go for sparkling or not.

A "flight" is basically a tasting of multiple wines, which allow drinkers to get a feel for breadth or depth. It could consist of anything up to 50 or more tastings (although on those wonderful but wasteful occasions you'd tend to spit not swallow to maintain any sense of sobriety and pretence!) and, of course, that would be silly for a pleasant evening out, so Pairings are offering three to try, swallow and enjoy.

The English Sparkling Wine Flight (£12.50) lets you try three 75ml glasses of award-winning wines from Sussex, namely Nyetimber Classic Cuvee, Chardonnay fizz Bolney Blanc de Blancs and Bolney Blanc de Noirs.

The English Wine Flight (£7.50) comprises the Guinevere Barrel Fermented Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the Gusbourne Estate in Kent, and a Bolney Rosé.

Talking of offers, the Co-op are offering May Bank Holiday discounts of up to 25 per cent off some wines until June 7.

Their current "star buy" is the Truly Irresistible Chenin Blanc 2015 (£6.99), an old favourite of this column.

This fresh, summery white is 100 per cent Chenin Blanc, sourced from ancient parcels of bush-vines on the cool west coast of South Africa.

It is made for the Co-op by Pieter-Neil Rossouw at Darling Cellars, with the grapes hand-harvested, de-stemmed and crushed before being gently pressed. For anyone interested in processes, the juice is then lightly clarified before about 14 days' fermentation, with grapes and juice handled reductively to prevent oxidation. That make sense?

For those interested more in what it's like, the wine - for anyone with talented tastebuds - has a bouquet of ripe pear and guava with citrus notes in the background. These flavours follow on the palate and are supported by mineral tones on the finish.

To sum up, the juicy acidity creates a crisp, versatile white wine which goes with salad, fish, roast chicken or even pork.

It's also one of the Co-op’s Truly Irresistible range, which has bagged more medals in the latest International Wine Challenge awards - a gold, two silvers and two bronze.

The Truly Irresistible Fiano 2014 (£6.99), another favourite of this column, got gold, the Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2014 (£15.99) and Bio Bio Malbec 2014 (£6.99) got silver, and the Fairtrade Malbec (£6.99) and Grecula Greco (£6.99) won bronze.

The new Truly Irresistible Pinotage 2015 (£6.99) also recently picked up double gold at the South African Top 100 competition.

Returning to the subject of discount offers, Sainsbury’s is offering 25 per cent off up until June 5 when customers buy six or more bottles of wine in store or online.