A couple of weeks ago I was lunching in London with Bordeaux winemaker Benoit Calvet. He also forays into Spain to create some interesting inexpensive wines that could well be coming our way in the late Spring and Summer.

We were discussing his latest Spanish trip to Utiel-Requena, a still relatively unknown source for excellent clean, ripe grapes.

He had brought a few cask sample over for us to taste and two in particular stuck me right away because they were made from frankly dull and uninteresting grapes, bobal and macabeo.

All that Benoit had done was to buy the grapes when they had just reached ripeness. They were still beautifully balanced with both acidity and sugar, rather than wait for them to be over-ripe with high sugar values - which is the custom in many parts of Spain where the growers are paid for their harvest on sugar levels.

Utiel-Requena lies inland from Valenica, Spain, between 500 and 600 metres high on a plateau that is cooled from an unrelenting summer sun by Mediterranean breezes. The combination of altitude, sun and breeze ensures ripe healthy grapes, which is exactly what winemakers are looking for.

From the almost lean bobal Benoit makes a fresh, fruity attractive rosada, a pink still wine, with plenty of colour and masses of fruit. In fact bobal has marginally more acid and produces less alcohol - only around 11.5 per cent abv- than many Spanish grapes, and is widely used for blending with the more generous varieties.

The white macabeo is also known as viura in the Rioja region, where it has ousted the far more exciting malvasia. Normally it just makes dull wines that are great for blending or ageing in powerfully vanilla-flavoured barrels of American oak: and that costs money!

All that Benoit has done is to pick his grapes when he thought they were ready. Using temperature controlled stainless steel tanks he has made an interesting wine with hints of nuts and fragrant floral tones.

I must admit that I am looking forward to tasting the finished, stabilised, wines later in the year. What is so interesting about Benoit Calvet, who is the descendant of a famous Bordeaux wine dynasty, is that while at home he makes superb clarets, he is equally interested in making good quality inexpensive wines that fully meet my triple "A" classification of being approachable, agreeable and affordable.

PHILIPPE BOUCHERON