Some rainy May days have set our warm weather activities back a week or two, but now that skies are showing a friendlier demeanor we’re ready to get down to some serious slacking off. While setting out the Adirondack chairs, we’re already mulling what little white wines will turn out to be this year’s backporch faves.

We’ll be looking for something bright and uncomplicated, unencumbered by oak of any kind, stimulating as a stiff breeze. Candidates need to ace the aperitif test, be super with a sandwich, and with a pasta salad. We’ll want good acidity and some lively fruit too – but most of all we’ll want something we can buy by the case, drink from day to day, and never tire of.

You’ll want to check with your local wine shop for their suggestions, of course. Our discoveries appear below and though they vary in provenance each strikes us as a particularly fine example of the breed, the kind of wine we find as necessary to the enjoyment of a New England summer as flip-flops and Red Sox on the radio.