Best Christmas wines to buy

Top tip: buy your Christmas wine ahead

My advice for avoiding stress when buying Christmas wine is to plan ahead. Stock up online for versatile crowd-pleasers to have on standby that will multitask for a variety of festive occasions, menus and dietary requirements. Then splash out on some special bottles for the feasting highlights.

Best Christmas wines to buy 2024

Aldi Specially Selected Toscana Rosso

• Available from Aldi (£7.69)

Best budget red wine to go with Christmas dinner

The main event usually involves so many sides and sauces with riots of different flavours, so choose something versatile that will have wide appeal. This sangiovese-based blend is full of ripe blackcurrant, damson and liquorice, robust enough to stand up to any meaty feast but with a crisp, sour-sherry lift on the finish.

Available from:
Aldi (£7.69)

Elisa Guerin ‘Les Thorins’ Moulin-à-Vent 2022

• Available from Wayward Wines (£32)

Best blowout red wine to go with Christmas dinner

Elisa is a rising star of the Beaujolais region, making immaculate unfiltered, unfined wines from old vines fermented with natural yeasts. Concentrated and muscular fruit open up in the glass and finishes with a lovely savoury elegance.

Available from:
Wayward Wines (£32)

Jackson Estate Stich 2023 Sauvignon Blanc

• Available from Waitrose Cellar (£14.99)

Best budget white wine to go with Christmas dinner

This is a great-value, crowd-pleasing sauv blanc. More restrained than many from New Zealand, it’s grassy but not too pungent and has a pleasing sunny richness from its lees ageing.

Available from:
Waitrose Cellar (£14.99)

Tesselaarsdal, Hemel-en-Aarde Chardonnay 2021

• Available from Lay Wheeler (£38.99)

Best blowout white wine to go with Christmas dinner

Made by Berene Sauls, one of a small but growing number of black women winemakers in South Africa, this is really special. Gently aged in old oak and clay amphorae to give shape and texture to its crisp melon and tangerine fruit, underpinned with just a touch of warm, gingery spice.

Available from:
Lay Wheeler (£38.99)

Aldi Specially Selected Ile de Beauté Rosé

• Available from Aldi (£8.49)

Best budget wine to go with a Boxing Day buffet

Keep things bright and fresh after the indulgences of the day before. This easy-drinking Corsican rosé has breezy redcurrant and cranberry fruit with a refreshing lemony acidity to cut through the richness in dishes such as the cover recipe butter turkey curry.

Available from:
Aldi (£8.49)

Cum Vineis Sclavis Schiava 2022

• Available from Svinando (£19)

Best blowout wine to go with a Boxing Day buffet

At a gentle 12% ABV, this is made from the unusual schiava grape in Italy’s mountainous Trentino region. Very elegant and poised with delicate red berry fruitiness, and a savoury backbone of mountain herbs – serve slightly chilled.

Available from:
Svinando (£19)

L’Occhiolino Sparkling Red

• Available from Laithwaites (£8.99)

Best budget wine for New Year's Eve

Made from the lambrusco grape, this jolly light red has bags of raspberry and pomegranate lifted by an edge of astringent herbs. Slightly sweet, it weighs in at only 7.5% ABV, so would make a refreshing partner with pudding as the clock strikes midnight.

Available from:
Laithwaites (£8.99)

Blurred Vines Spark Alt Wine

• Available from Three Spirit (£16)

Best blowout wine for New Year's Eve

A non-alcoholic pink fizz made from cold-brewed teas and British fruit juices flavoured with numerous botanicals. Caffeine from the teas and the addition of a little cayenne pepper give a real pep to its bright herbaceous and strawberry notes.

Available from:
Three Spirit (£16)

English Pink Mulled Rosé

• Available from English Pink (£25)

Best budget wine to go with nibbles

Mulled rosé is having a moment. Who knew? English rosé with gentle spices and festive tangerine citrus giving something warming but not too sickly. Great for a party when you’re looking for something different – just heat gently in a pan or warm in a microwave. Very good with spicy snacks.

Available from:
English Pink (£25)

Champagne René Jolly Rosé d’Assemblage

• Available from Waitrose Cellar (£37.99)

Best blowout wine to go with nibbles

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without champagne and this chardonnay/pinot blend has lots to say for itself – strawberries and cream on the nose, very fine bubbles and crunchy, slightly spicy fruit on the palate that sits well with festive nibbles.

Available from:
Waitrose Cellar (£37.99)

Araldica Moscato d’Asti

• Available from Majestic (£11)

Best budget wine to go with pudding

Very pretty, slightly sparkling white at only 5% ABV, a wine that actually tastes of grapes along with its notes of warm apricots, white flowers and a touch of honey. Easy to drink at any time of day – perfect with a trifle.

Available from:
Majestic (£11)

Graham’s 20-Year-Old Tawny Port

• Available from Amazon (£40), Waitrose Cellar (£44.99)

Best blowout wine to go with pudding

Complex and layered with marmalade, nuts, honey and vanilla, this ticks so many boxes. A small glass makes a perfect pairing with Christmas cake or a mince pie, and it’s also ace with cheese. Serve slightly chilled – it’ll last for weeks after opening so none will go to waste.

Available from:
Amazon (£40)
Waitrose Cellar (£44.99)

Cramele Recas Orange

• Available from Adnams (£10.99)

Best budget wine to go with a cheeseboard

Orange wine is a surprisingly good match with cheese, and this affordable example is very approachable. Gently crunchy tannins with lovely baked apple and quince fruit, and a hint of candied oranges. Versatile with so many other things, too.

Available from:
Adnams (£10.99)

Kopke 10-Year-Old White Port

• Available from Waitrose Cellar (£37.99), Amazon (£39.95)

Best blowout wine to go with a cheeseboard

Aged white ports are sweeter and more woody than the dry ports we’re used to mixing with tonic in summer, and make a welcome change from red ports to go with a festive cheeseboard. This is opulent with ripe peach and dried fruit, soft spice, hazelnuts and a little orange zest freshness.

Available from:
Waitrose Cellar (£37.99)
Amazon (£39.95)

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