How green is your garden? If you’re stuck in the city this summer and fancy a bit of stroll in a vineyard, you might give Liverpool Street a try. Following a similar stunt in Sydney, the Australian wine producer McGuigan has been busy constructing a ‘city vineyard’, an installation that lets you meander amongst the vines, try the wines at the cellar door and chat to its winemakers. Not that London can compete with Europe’s more vinecentric capitals. Paris’ long established vineyard at Clos Montmartre behind Sacré Coeur itself has a new competitor in the Bretonneau hospital’s first vintage of 2007 Clos Bretonneau, said to be highly therapeutic. Even Paris’ green tendrils pale into insignificance next to the Vienna woods, whose six different districts are home to no fewer than 36 different grape varieties producing nearly two million bottles of white and 400,000 of red.

If thoughts of al fresco consumption turn to summery whites, fizz and barbecue reds, the greatest boon to drinking wine outdoors since the goatskin is the invention of the screwcap. When the sauvignon blanc producers of Marlborough first banded together to adopt the screwcap for protection for freshness and freedom from cork taint, they probably weren’t thinking of picnics, but technical advantages apart, the wonder of the screwcap is its sheer convenience for picnics and patios. Among the New Zealand sauvignons I’ll be quenching my thirst with this summer will be the elderfloral, juicy 2007 Asda New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, £5.38, the pungently gooseberryish and tangy 2007 Kaituna Hills Sauvignon Blanc, £6.99, Marks & Spencer, and for richness of aromatic, passion fruit-infused flavours, the 2007 Jackson Estate Sauvignon Blanc, £9.99, Waitrose.

Where New Zealand sauvignon led, Australia’s Clare Valley followed with its highly aromatic, crisp dry rieslings. From this exceptional region for riesling, the 2007 O’Leary Walker Polish Hill River Riesling, £8.99, Waitrose, contains in its refreshingly dry fruitiness all the tantalisingly lime zesty hallmarks of the style, while with a more evolved, floral riesling character, Paulett’s 2006 Polish Hill River Clare Valley Riesling, £9.99, buy 2 = £8.49, Majestic, zips and zings in similar mould. As Europe catches on, Austria’s growers have woken up to the benefits for its scented grüner veltliners with wines like the summer-spritzy, white peppery 2007 Domaene Gobelsburger Grüner Veltliner, £7.49, Waitrose. Not everyone has had the wake-up call yet mind, but you can almost forgive Sancerre when it comes up with a wine with the thrilling elderflower fragrance, the gooseberry and white peach delicacy and bone dry finish of the 2007 Vacheron Sancerre, £14.99, Majestic, Waitrose.

The great thing about fizz is that there’s no need for a corkscrew in the first place, so champagnes and sparkling wines are not only the perfect outdoor companions but convenient corkscrew-free zones in their own right. If you haven’t already done so for this summer’s picnics, now’s the time to turn your attention to the delights of English fizz, not least Ridegview’s fine Cuvée Merret, Bloomsbury, £19,99, Waitrose, or its Cuvée Merret, Cavendish, £22.95, Jeroboams shops, whose creamy full-flavoured mousse and energisingly tangy acidity tastes as good as if not better and certainly more English than champagne. There is superb champagne too: a new little stunner in at Marks and Spencer, the Berèche et Fils Brut, £25, Marks & Spencer, is a grower’s champagne with intense biscuity aromas, a beguiling, ultra-smooth baked apple and cream richness and mouthwateringly tangy bone dry attack.

This may not leave a huge amount of space for barbecue reds, but let’s continue in the convenience vein with the screwcapped 2006 Yalumba Y Series Shiraz Viognier, £6.99, Tesco, £7.19, down to £5.69, from Wednesday, Waitrose, the ideal, spicy brambly red, while the richly fruited, rioja-in-Mclaren-Vale-like 2006 Cascabel Tempranillo Graciano, £86.35, case of 6, Marks & Spencer online, is a more imaginative, superbly juicy choice. Bring the corkscrew with you and you can add to the bbq list the plummy 2006 Asda Extra Special Primitivo di Puglia, £6.12, Sainsbury’s damson-rich 2006 Taste the Difference Douro, £7.99, and Waitrose’s utterly compelling, sumptuously blackberryish and spicy equivalent, the 2007 Douro Reserva Red, £9.99, made in partnership with Quinta de la Rosa.

Under a Fiver

2007 House White, Marks & Spencer, £3.79.

Considering the low-key name and even lower-key price, there’s a surprising amount more flavour and character to this appley, thirstquenchingly dry Gascon blend of colombard and ugni blanc than you might have anticipated.

Under a Tenner

2006 De Bortoli Vat 4 Petit Verdot, £7.99, Sainsbury’s.

While the petit verdot grape is only ever used in a minor key in Bordeaux because it’s late to ripen, Australia has founds that it suits its warmer climate admirably, to the extent that pure petit verdot like this example from the De Bortoli family can combine aromatic expression with delightfully blackcurrant fruitiness and mellow tannins.

Splash Out

2006 Condrieu Invitare, M.Chapoutier, £25, Majestic Wine Warehouses.

If you want to give your loved one (ok, and yourself) a serious treat this summer, this superfresh and intense honeysuckle and concentrated peach confection from Michel Chapoutier encapsulates the magic of the viognier grape in its home town of Condrieu with style, flavour and minerality.