Sweet
2005 Château Roumieu, Sauternes, Bordeaux, France
Co-op, half bottle, £11.99 down to £5.99 until January 3 (Harrods stock halfbottles of the ’07 for £12.95)
Delightfully cheap sauternes from a Barsac estate run by Catherine Craveia-Goyaud and her team, who make grand stickies year in, year out. 2005 was a great sauternes vintage and even at this keenly priced level it oozes fat, luscious, waxy, burnt, butterscotch flavours complete with a mouthwatering honeyed finish. Just the drop to linger over with clementines and crystallised fruit.
2007 Anakena Late Harvest, Limari Valley, Chile
Advertisement
Stone, Vine & Sun; Soho Wine Supply, 50cls, £6.50
A noble rot-affected blend of the common muscat of Alexandria grape enhanced by a dash of posh viognier, this user-friendly 50cl Chilean pudding wine is from a single vineyard (though it neglects to mention this on the label) and will win lots of friends over the festivities. I loved its luscious, aniseed-spiked peach and crystallised pineapple fruit that will make it the perfect postprandial festive bottle to while away the hours spent nibbling on Stilton, clementines and crystallised fruit.
Fortified
Advertisement
Dry Old Palo Cortado, Solera Premium Sherry, Lustau, Spain
Marks & Spencer, half bottle, £7.49
The sherry revival is slowly gaining ground and Marks & Spencer is the latest outlet to launch a classy new collection of premium sherries. All come from Lustau, based in Jerez, renowned for their collection of old almacenistas: venerable sherries from small stockholders. This bone-dry, tangy, beefy palo cortado, a halfway house sherry style between an amontillado and oloroso, closes on a gloriously nutty note. Sip a glass of this, the rarest sherry style, with a dish of spicy, roasted nuts before church.
Dry Old Oloroso, Solera Premium Sherry, Lustau, Spain
Marks & Spencer, half bottle, £7.49
Advertisement
Everyone should have a bottle of this on their sideboard this Christmas. A truly great oloroso stemming from an ancient sherry solera, whose wines were laid down years and years ago — complete with that distinctive greeny-yellow rim indicating great age. With so much powerful, piquant, waxy, beefy spice on board, coupled with a long, lingering finish, this is M&S’s best sherry and a fine wine to serve with a truckle of cheddar or rich pât?.
BEST BUY: fortified
Dow’s 1998 Quinta do Bomfim Vintage Port, Portugal
Tesco £24.99; Booths, £25.99; Asda, £28.97, Philglas & Swiggot £30.99
Truly magnificent post-prandial port that will turn any festive meal into a banquet. If you have never drunk a grand vintage port before, this is the bottle to give this Christmas. Single quinta ports, just like vintage ports, spend two years slumbering in cask, before spending the rest of their life maturing in bottle, but differ in that they are the wines from one single quinta, or estate, rather than dozens of them. Bomfim is a low-lying Douro quinta with a distinctive dry, bold, burly yet beautiful quality all of its own. Serve this massive, perfumed, black pepper, blackberry and mintladen port with a wedge of Stilton for a real Christmas treat, or better still sneak a glass before or after Midnight Mass.
Advertisement
Sparkling
Asti Canti Dolce, Italy
Morrisons, £4.99
Don’t be sniffy about softly sweet, softly sparkling asti, as its gorgeous, musky, mouthwatering hothouse grape flavour, froth and low alcohol content makes a wonderful festive bottle. Try splashing it into your glass and pouring it over an exotic fresh fruit salad for a delicious festive finale. With only 7 per cent alcohol and appealingly sweet, grapey fruit, it also makes a good base for a teenage party punch.
San Leo Prosecco, Vino Spumante, Italy
Advertisement
Waitrose, £7.99 down to £5.99 from December 2 to January 5
Confession time: I am not a big fan of prosecco. Most are too darned thin, frothy and burp-making for my liking. So it was a relief at last to taste this lively, zesty, Granny Smith and lime peel-scented 11 per cent alcohol San Leo, made exclusively from prosecco grapes grown in Friuli. There is still plenty of frothy fruit here but it has appealing lively, floral, fruity finesse.Great with fruity puddings.
Guillaume de Gand Brut R?serve Champagne, France
Marks & Spencer, £25.99 down to £12.99 until Tuesday
Only a few days left to snap up this delicious chardonnay-dominated £12.99 bubbly, topped up with one third pinot noir and one quarter pinot meunier. At last M&S’s champagne buyer has ditched the lacklustre Union co-operative in favour of Alliance, best known for Jacquart, which made this simple, elegant, musky, tutti-frutti champagne, complete with a fine, lemony finish. I would not pay £25 plus for this but it’s Christmas 2009’s best sub-£13 champagne buy on the high street.
STAR BUY: champagne
Charles Heidsieck Brut R?serve Champagne, France
Waitrose, £28.99 down to £22.99 from December 2 to January 5
Charles Heidsieck’s gorgeous, late- disgorged mise en cave champagne, a roughly equal blend of chardonnay and pinots noir and meunier, has now been relabelled R?serve. No matter: this creamy, powerful, predominantly 2000 vintage champagne, topped up with a whopping 40 per cent dollop of reserve wines, was disgorged in 2008, making it that bit richer and nuttier, and it is every bit as good as its predecessors. Any of you with a special celebration in mind this Christmas or new year will need this magnificent, complex, toasted hazelnut and candied peel-charged bubbly.