​Wonderful wines for weary travellers

Therefore, I am going to be primarily recommending summery wines today. Although summer has been difficult for many of us, on a recent holiday in Europe the 33°C sun certainly found me, delivering a hefty dose of heatstroke. Sensing the opportunity to kick me when I was down, the weather then changed abruptly to thunder and lightning, giving me a ferocious drenching which led to an awful chill, culminating in about three days of bedrest.

Having partially recovered, my wife, the enigmatic Madame G., then decided that it was my turn to look after her and spent the last three days of our "holiday" in bed with some weird bug. Alas, dear tipplers, our troubles were only just beginning. Our 2.30pm flight home last Saturday left on time but then we had to return to the airport for safety reasons. For hours we waited to be told what was going to happen next. No information was forthcoming. Eventually, shortly before midnight we were herded on board a flight and without a word of apology taken back to Dublin.

Anyway, they've safely and gracelessly taken us back to the sub-20°C temperatures we're used to so let's celebrate by cracking open a splash of pink!

The first place I visited when I returned to cool and classy Ireland was Lidl who are offering upbeat and offbeat rose wine. First among near equals but just about gaining the nod as today's Wine of the Week is the dry, elegant and refreshing 2022 Villanyi Roze (£8.99). This spritzy Hungarian drop is packed with red berry and citrus flavours which went well with a platter of cold meats, cheese and olives back at our lovely home, Rose Cottage.

Also from Lidl, the refined, just off-dry 2021 Primitivo Puglia Rosato (£5.49) is a deep, red-brick colour with herbal aromatics and a feast of cherry and forest fruit berry flavours on its tangy, juicy palate. One to enjoy with pizza or quiche. Alternatively, today's final pink, also from Lidl, is the complex, full-bodied and flavoursome 2021 Tavel Rose (£7.99). This French offering has abundant notes of strawberry, raspberry and orange on its fulsome palate before a clean, discreetly acidic finish. Definitely one for seafood.

Lovers of white, I have not forgotten you. In such temperatures the taut, bone-dry and elegant 2021 M&S Classics Riesling Pfalz (£10.50) would call out like Danny Boy to a weary traveller in a foreign airport. This German white has a complex palate with well-judged minerality alongside hints of citrus and floral notes before a lengthy finish. An ideal match for simply cooked salmon or trout dishes.

And what if the sun simply refuses to shine? Well, then we'll need something much more sombre, brooding and intense. And most crucially red. Step forward today's final selection, the savoury, smooth and fruity 2021 M&S Cotes du Rhone (£6.50). Plum and blackberry flavours dominate a mellow palate, mingling with backnotes of cherry, dark fruit and chocolate before an oaked finish with subtle strands of lick-your-lips liquorice. We plan to have ours with my Madame's legendary Spanish chicken- chicken thighs.

Till next week, tipplers, should we make it, a very heartfelt sante!