European wine lake - Independent starts story with good intentions (5,3)
I believe the answer is:
white lie
'story with good intentions' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'european wine lake independent starts' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'wine' becomes 'white' (white wine is a kind of wine).
'lake' becomes 'L' (geographical abbreviation).
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'starts' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'white'+'l'+'i'='whiteli'
'e' after 'whiteli' is 'WHITE LIE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for white lie that I've seen before include "when a tactful comment is required" , "Justifiable deception" , "pardonable offence" , "A harmless fib" , "Minor untruth, a pale fib" .)