White wines
Taste the Difference Viognier IGP Pays d’Oc, France 2019 (£7, Sainsbury’s)
Laurent Miquel has mastered the art of making plushly textured yet fresh dry whites from the extravagantly scented viognier grape at accessible prices. This version, with its fleshy white peach and apricot, is no exception.
Co-op Truly Irresistible Marsanne IGP Pays d’Oc, France 2019 (£8, The Co-op)
Another talented (and prolific) Midi winemaker (Jean-Claude Mas) and another superbly rounded dry white from a Rhône white grape (marsanne), offering ripples of ripe stone fruit, apple and pear and a drizzle of honey.
Best buy
M&S Classics Touraine Sauvignon Blanc Loire, France 2019 (£8, Marks & Spencer)
For a fishy first course on any of the big Christmas days, look no further than this Loire sauvignon blanc which has all the classic elderflower grassiness and racing freshness of Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé at a fraction of the price.
Tesco Finest Western Australian Chardonnay Australia 2019 (£8, Tesco)
Howard Park, the producer behind one of Tesco’s most reliably excellent wines, Tingleup Riesling, has come up with the goods again here in a full-flavoured yet finely balanced bargain of a roast bird-ready white.
Schloss Gobelsberg Loss Grüner Veltliner Kamptal, Austria 2019 (from £13.90, fieldandfawcett.co.uk; bottleapostle.com)
A wonderfully versatile Austrian dry white that combines citrussy liveliness, pep and freshness with spicy white peppery depths and ripe apple. Curs through the richness of a bird and all the trimmings, as well as pairing with cold cuts or smoked salmon.
Domaine de l’Ancienne Cure Monbazillac France 2017 (from £9.50 for 37.5cl, yapp.co.uk; bancroftwines.com; etonvintners.com)
To sip with the stilton, match a dessert, or sip luxuriantly on its own, this is a gorgeously rich but tangily balanced late-harvest sweet wine from the Monbazillac appellation in Bergerac that mixes honey, toffee and orange marmalade.
Bodegas Albamar Albariño Rías Baixas, Spain 2019 (from £19.99, thewhiskyexchange.com; vinetrail.co.uk)
Xurxo Alba is one of the most exciting producers working in the Atlantic-influenced cool of Galicia, and this is a gorgeously evocative version of the local albariño grape, tempering its ripe peachiness with blossom and bracing sea-salt-and-citrus freshness.
Domaine de la Taille aux Loups Clos de Mosny Montlouis Sec Loire, France 2018 (£25.99, Waitrose or £26.68, laywheeler.com)
From top Loire winemaker Jacky Blot this is a typically scintillating example of chenin blanc taken from a single vineyard, a shimmering combination of Cox’s apple and subtle toastiness with superb concentration, weight and balancing tang and nerve.
Red wines
Tesco Finest Côtes du Rhône-Villages Signargues France 2019 (£8, Tesco)
Good value for a typically ripe, warming and robust southern Rhône red blend of grenache and syrah with layers of ripe blackberry and fig pepped up with spice that will happily sit alongside the full-on roast and trimmings without breaking the bank.
Cidade Branca Alentejo Red Portugal 2019 (£8, Morrisons)
A rich, ripe, sun-filled red blend from southern Portugal based on the country’s great red grape, touriga nacional, this offers a boldly succulent palate of ripe black cherry and berry with satisfyingly textured, grown-up, meat-friendly tannin.
Best Buy
Co-op Chiroubles Beaujolais, France 2019 (£10, The Co-op)
With the best wines of Burgundy growing more and more expensive, the increasingly excellent gamays of Beaujolais have filled a gap for affordable elegant reds with a lightness of touch, and this slinky, silky, summer-berry-filled beauty is just superb value.
Waitrose No.1 Cederberg Syrah, South Africa 2018 (£10.99, Waitrose)
A typically expressive, vivid example of syrah from the high-altitude vines (more than 1,000m above sea-level) of Cederberg, this is filled with dark raspberry and cherry, seasoned with syrah’s signature peppery spice, for the Christmas bird.
Aldinger Estate Spätburgunder Württemberg, Germany 2018 (from £11.95, thewinesociety.com; borderswines.co.uk; thewinebarn.co.uk)
German winemakers just get better and better at pinot noir, and here’s a light, lithe and joyously strawberry and raspberry-driven example that positively dances on the tongue, its pulse of redcurrant on the finish a cleansing match for the Christmas Day roast.
Vallisto Barbera Cafayate, Salta, Argentina 2018 (from £18.25, thewhiskyexchange.com; thegoodwineshop.co.uk)
Piemontese red grape barbera is here given a turbo-charge of ripeness and brightness in some of the world’s highest vineyards in north-eastern Argentina, leading to a polished wine of vivacious pure berry fruit, seasoned with sage and cherry acidity.
La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Seleccíon Especial Reserva Rioja 2010 (£27.99, or £24.99 as part of a mixed case of six, majestic.co.uk)
Venerable Rioja institution La Rioja Alta’s flagship Ardanza is always one of the most reliably mellow and rewarding traditional riojas around; in the 2010 vintage it’s especially good, with deep dark fruit and savoury oak, it’s rich, smart, suave.
La Fiorita Rosso di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy 2018 (from £29.80, hedonism.co.uk; stannarywine.com)
With its alluring mix of herb, wild flowers and perfectly captured red berries and cherries, and its caressingly silky structure, this beautiful example of Montalcino rosso is at least as good as many a supposedly superior Brunello from the same beautiful Tuscan hilltown.
Sparkling wines
Morrisons The Best Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG NV (£10, Morrisons)
A prosecco of real charm, that brings all the style’s uplifting qualities: it’s effervescent with fluffy icing sugar bubbles and blossomy floral-edged fresh sweet pear juiciness and a splash of lemon citrus, all with a surge of gentle acidity.
Best Buy
Marks & Spencer Classics Crémant Burgundy, France NV (£10, Marks & Spencer)
Made using the same traditional method as champagne, and from some of the same grape varieties (pinot noir and chardonnay, plus a little gamay), this is just superb value, a fine-bubbled, creamy, bright-fruited fizz with a long, racy, clean-cut finish.
Tesco Finest English Rosé Sparkling Brut Kent, England NV (£20, Tesco)
Made for Tesco by the reliably good Hush Heath Estate in Kent, this is a classic pinot noir-led pink fizz that offers a lot of class and quality for the money, all red apples, raspberries and that characteristically English sparkling attribute of nervy, tongue-tingling brightness.
Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Second Skin Champagne, France NV (£69.99, Selfridges)
Ruinart’s delightful 100% chardonnay cuvée is on superb form at the moment, with its sublimely elegant mix of fine floral, citrus and burgeoning patisserie shop flavours now presented in an unusually restrained, and eco-friendly, “second-skin” gift box.
