There are holidays and then there is summer vacation. If you haven’t noticed summer is moving along at breakneck speed and before you know it the rain and cold weather will be upon us. So, if you haven’t yet managed to slip away for a bit of a summer vacation now is the time. Whether that means the cabin or the cottage, in the mountains or at the lake, for a week or even just a weekend, and it doesn’t much matter, as long as it involves a bit of downtime.

What you do on vacation is another question. I know some of you no longer take a vacation without your laptop or Blackberry. Others take all those books they never found time to read during the year. Still others pack up the golf clubs, fishing rods, bicycles and just about anything else they can tie-down to the roof rack before they head out.

Then there are wine people.

Don’t get me wrong. We do most of the same stuff our neighbours do but for one very crucial difference. We take our own wine. Not the homemade plonk the neighbourhood gets together to make in somebody’s basement but rather bottles we know and like and that might be hard to locate in vacation country.

There are always exceptions but after years of prowling the aisles of B.C.’s rural liquor stores experience has taught me to be prepared. It is true there’s a certain charm to vacation country liquor stores but unfortunately it doesn’t extend to the wines they stock. So, if the tired labels of Soave, Valpolicella, Beaujolais and just about any critter label you can think of get you down, or those 1.5 litre bottles of tasteless juice aren’t your idea of a summer vacation, read on.

This week we present a perfect case for the end of summer. Each selection is a fine example of its origin and grape variety, and since it’s summer we thought offering terrific value might be an incentive as well. And even if a summer holiday isn’t in the cards this year, you’ll be pleased to know all our picks will look just as good at a back yard barbecue as they do at the lake.

Now that you are ready to start sipping, the question is, what should we be drinking? Well, how about some delicious, uncomplicated wines full of flavour.

A sure-fire winner and a wine that suggests you are not only organized for summer but that you may be prepared for anything is the Michele Chiarlo Nivole Moscato d'Asti, Piedmont, Italy ($17) Call it summer in a half-bottle and you can sip it before, during and after dinner. Fresh and delicate, it’s packed with peachy, red apple, floral, ginger, melon, honey flavours. A delicious, off-dry patio ice-breaker, or serve it after dinner with fresh fruit.

Be sure to keep Rueda in mind for a different kind of white wine, as in one that goes well with food. My pick is the Telmo Rodriguez Basa Rueda Blanco 2006, Rueda, Castilla-Leon, Spain ($17) with its ripe, round, fresh style and its lemon lime, passion fruit, green melon, butter and quince flavours. Sushi anyone? Or serve with simply prepared seafood dishes and garnish with homemade potato salad.

One of the biggest turnarounds in wine is happening in Chile where formerly “okay” wine is getting better and more sophisticated. Quintay Clava Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Valle de Casablanca, Chile ($15) is simply delicious. The floral, grapefruit rind, mineral, passion fruit aromas will grab your interest straight-away, as will its fresh flavours of grapefruit, dried herbs, pepper, grass and light asparagus. Love the value in a terrific food wine.

Two local wines to keep close are the Blasted Church Chardonnay Musqué 2007 ($18) from Okanagan Falls and the Mission Hill S.L.C. Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2006 ($30) with its Okanagan Valley moniker.

The former chardonnay is a zippy floral-fresh white wine alive with its lime, muscat, nectarine skin, butter, mineral flavours, all under an easy to open screw cap. The latter SLC blend is the best yet from Mission Hill. This sauvignon blanc sémillon blend is not meant to be an ode to Bordeaux but rather to the ambitious New Zealand sauvignon. Kiwi winemaker John Simes has tweaked this blend to perfection, from its bright grapefruit/green melon nose to its rich, smoky, gooseberry, vanilla, lees flavours. It is both complex and inviting with taut crisp styling. A very versatile food wine.

Red wine drinkers, and that is most of you, will enjoy the Line 39 Petit Sirah 2006 ($18) from California. On the palate it offers up tasty, dark chocolate cherry fruit flavours flecked with meaty earthy notes. Good value red wine produced at the “39th” parallel.

Along the same vein is a soft and drinkable Pascual Toso Malbec 2007 ($14) from Mendoza, Argentina. Classic Toso it has plenty of savoury, sweet black fruit wrapped in liquorice with just a touch of acidity and pepper poking through the back end. A big showy red for the money that shouts bring on the steaks.

Still in Argentina, in the smoky meaty savoury style, is the Trivento Amado Sur Malbec Bonarda Syrah 2006 ($15), from Mendoza. The attraction is the cherry, plum, coffee, vanilla pudding flavours with some black olive and licorice on the finish. A perfect barbecue red.

Fans of Oz will enjoy the Wirra Wirra Scrubby Rise Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Petit Verdot 2006 ($17) from South Australia. It is extremely smooth on the palate with plenty of black raspberry, chocolate, licorice and spicy pepper flavours. Best with grilled meats.

As the nights cool down it is fun to sip on a glass of late bottled vintage port such as the Taylor Fladgate 2002 Late Bottled Vintage Port ($25), Douro Valley, Portugal. Made from a single vintage blend, Taylors LBV ages from four to six years in cask. Look for a perfumed, elegant style port with attractive fiery flavours of chocolate, pepper, earth and dried fruit.

All you need do now is convince the boss you need some time off to recharge the batteries before the snow flies.