Wines worth talking about

Real men drink pink. It's true. Just ask Brad Pitt. I personally ingest significant quantities of the stuff. That is, when I’m not cracking into a case of my Hawkstone lager or an ice cold pint on draught. And you really can’t go wrong with a glass or two of Domaine du Mas Ensoleillé. Sunny by name, it's also tasty commiseration when it's raining, foggy, windy, drizzling, overcast or cold. And I should know. I've test driven more Provence pink than most.

This white wine is made by a Croatian vineyard that was once run by monks, and I think it shows in what they produce in the 21st Century. At least, I really enjoyed drinking it over a quiet lunch, alone. Its fruity, fresh, original character almost demands to be appreciated in silence.

I first drank a Gavi di Gavi at the hotel Splendido in Portofino in my mid 20s on holiday with a girlfriend when we stopped for lunch and I had no idea how expensive it was going to be. It was the only affordable thing on the menu (about £50 in lira which was a ton of money then) and the only dish we could afford was the pesto genovese - which was absolutely superb. A bottle of Gavi down, I enquired after a room and was told the cheapest was £700. Ha ha ha. It remains a favourite summer white and can't eat pasta without it. In this case we drank it with Spaghetti alla Bottarga, a signature dish of mine and great for self catering because you just sling a couple of bottargas (which is pressed dried grey mullet roe) in the glove box and can make super posh supper with spaghetti from the local Spar. But it's a strong, fishy taste and very hard to pair wine to, as it brings out weird mineralities and alkalis so you need something fruity but not too fruity and this Villa Broglia Gavi was perfect.

I was introduced to New World wines on my first tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1990- 91. We had some serious wine lovers (drinkers) on that trip including David Gower and Allan Lamb, who were both on the last of the many trips down under they had made during their careers. They had gathered a few wine contacts along the way. One was Geoff Merrill, an Aussie with a big heart and a ready laugh who makes outstanding wines in the McLaren Vale, just south of Adelaide. Another was Kevin Judd, now at Greywacke but then making wines at a little-known vineyard called Cloudy Bay in the north of New Zealand’s South Island. We visited both on that trip and drowned some sorrows after defeats along the way. So the wines of New Zealand and Australia bring back a lot of happy memories of that early tour, and those made since. There has always been a strong connection between wine and cricket- Bob Willis and Ian Botham went on to partner with Merrill in a wine venture- so my choice for the Sunday Times Wine Club reflects that. Among them is Redheads Catbird Seat Cabernet Sauvignon from the Coonawarra area in South Australia, a sturdy red that should drink well.

A perfect reminder of my happiest moments on holiday.

The Côtes du Rhône, Le Prince de Courthézon, lets you taste the rough, sunny slopes of the Rhone valley; its a dead ringer for Châteauneuf-du-Pape without paying the premium for the name, highly recommended.