Wines of the week: Vergelegen Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2006; Quoin Rock Cape Blend 2004; Fairhills Fairtrade Colombard/Sauvignon Blanc 2010/11

Terry Kirby selects the best bottles to buy

Sunday lunch

Vergelegen Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2006

A potentially fascinating cricket Test series against South Africa starts on Thursday, which is a fine excuse to sample some great wines from that part of the world. For an opener as meaty and muscular as the tourists' captain Graeme Smith, try this bottle from an illustrious producer, displaying all the controlled power and structure of the grape. Black fruits, subtle spicy notes and some woody, leathery flavours from two years' oak ageing. Drink with rare roast beef or a bloody steak. £13.95, slurp.co.uk; £15.99, Wine Rack

Midweek meal

Quoin Rock Cape Blend 2004

Also from Stellenbosch, a perfect wine to savour while watching the evening cricket highlights on television, this is a mixture of Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet and the country's great signature grape, the spice- and coffee-scented Pinotage. Rich, complex and at 14.5 per cent, high in alcohol, which means suitably robust foods are needed, such as South Africa's intriguing bobotie, a kind of curried moussaka. £8.95, thewinesociety.com

Bargain basement

Fairhills Fairtrade Colombard/Sauvignon Blanc 2010/11

Black owners of South African vineyards are still a rarity and the Fairtrade movement is one way of helping small grape growers who once worked for white owners. Fairhills is now the largest such project in the world and makes a mostly decent range of wines, of which this is a great example – medium-bodied, full of fragrant tropical fruit flavours and highly drinkable. £5.39, Waitrose (until 24 July; normally £6.79)