Wines of the Week: Abbots & Delaunay Alto Stratus Carignan 2010; Lugana Classico Tenuta Roveglia 2011; Castillo del Baron Macabeo 2011

Terry Kirby selects the best bottles to buy

Sunday Lunch

Abbots & Delaunay Alto Stratus Carignan 2010

Despite the English-sounding name, A&D are bespoke Languedoc specialists and this is part of an excellent range of their wines made fully available only recently in this country. Very carefully made using grapes from 100-year-old vines grown on stony ground, this is a complex, individual wine, with tastes of cherries, plums, vanilla and herbs on the palate and a good, long finish. A real special-occasion wine for all red roast meats. £16.99, averys.com

Midweek meal

Lugana Classico Tenuta Roveglia 2011

Made from Trebbiano grapes grown on the southern shores of Lake Garda in northern Italy, this crisp, fragrant, light wine is made for shady terraces with distant views of sunlight sparkling on blue water. Lunch, in such cases, should usually involve white linen, immaculate service and some expensive shellfish. Or it can brighten up a September evening with some grilled white fish. And perhaps a few memories. £8.50, jascots.co.uk

Bargain basement

Castillo del Baron Macabeo 2011

The estimable Wine Society does not really do discounts, but just aims to keep prices low for quality wines. This is a great example of its summer sub-£6 range – from Yecla, inland from Alicante, where the high altitude brings cool nights and crisp, clean flavours to the Maccabeu grapes: young, fruity, fresh and very easy to drink. £5.25, thewinesociety.com