Our 20 best Christmas wines

The Wine Atlas Lake Garda Sparkling Brut, Italy NV (£6.97, Asda)

Asda’s adventurous Wine Atlas range is a little hit and miss, but this cleverly sourced fizz from vineyards around Lake Garda just west of Verona is hard to beat for value: an easy, softly foaming prosecco-alike for all your festive spritz, buck’s fizz or bellini needs.

Pet Nat Phos, Alma 4, Mendoza, Argentina 2025 (£12, Tesco)

The cult sparkling wine style known as pet-nat is no longer exclusive to the natural-wine-bar-fringe, with this fragrant, zesty and super lively example from the switched-on Argentine producer Zuccardi one of a handful to make its way into the supermarkets, and an ideal, crowd-pleasing candidate for Christmas parties.

Taste the Difference Cremant de Limoux, France NV (£12, Sainsbury’s)

With their vineyards cooled by their elevated position in the foothills of the Pyrenees in southern France’s Languedoc, Limoux’s winemakers have a sparkling tradition that goes back further than champagne’s. This chardonnay-led example from the consistent Languedoc producer Jean-Claude Mas is an exemplary, lemon-posset-flavoured, briskly refreshing bargain.

Co-op Les Pionniers Vintage Champagne, France 2013 (£33.50, Co-op)

Every year I think a rival will knock Co-op’s perennial favourite, made by Champagne Piper-Heidsieck, off its perch as the best supermarket own-label champagne; every year the retailer surprises me anew with the level of brioche-patisserie intensity and luminous acidity, notably in this irresistible (to borrow one of Co-op’s favoured words) mature vintage version.

Estevez Chilean Merlot, Central Valley, Chile NV (£4.15, Aldi)

It won’t win any prizes for sophistication, but this very rare example of a drinkable sub-£5 red is so much better than it has any right to be at that price. Tasting of very ripe plums and sweet berries, it’s easy of tannin and an excellent party-bottle choice.

Château Capitoul, Languedoc-Roussillon, France 2022 (£9.25, Co-op)

The spicy, robust, richly warming, herby, brambly reds of Mediterranean France are an excellent bet for matching up with the full-on flavoury assault of the big day main course, and this is a particularly sumptuous, brooding but succulent example for less than a tenner.

Palazzo Maffei Conte di Valle Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore, Italy 2021 (£12.75, Co-op)

Ripasso wines (which are partially made with dried grapes) can be a little clumsy and sweet, but this super-smart version shows how good the style can be in the right, sensitive hands. It’s a gorgeously, sensuously sleek red, with just a hint of cherry-and-dark-chocolate bittersweetness.

Howard Park Miamup Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia 2023 (£13, Booths, ocado.com)

Howard Park is the name behind one of my favourite dry riesling whites (the aptly named Tesco Finest Tingleup Riesling, £11). But the producer may be even better at the signature Margaret River style, a glossier, more purely black-fruited (cassis, black cherry), leafy-fresh Western Australian answer to Christmas claret.

Bodegas San Martin Alma de Unx Garnacha, Navarra, Spain 2023 (£13.45, corneyandbarrow.com)

All over Spain, producers are discovering parcels of very old bush-vine garnacha to make graceful, ethereal wines that are the silky southern answer to the elegance of Burgundy’s pinot noir. This is a particularly lithe and fragrant example that tastes of wild berries, hibiscus and thyme, and offers a cranberry-sauce-like foil to the Christmas turkey.

BEST BUY RED Elisa Guerin La Vigne de Mon Père, Moulin-à-Vent, Beaujolais, France 2023 (£18, thewinesociety.com)

As prices of the best pinot noir red wines in Burgundy continue to climb, the still-underrated gamay reds of neighbouring Beaujolais become increasingly compelling, none more so than those made by Elisa Guerin, including this serenely beautiful, harmoniously red-fruited and feathery-tannin-ed expression from Moulin-à-Vent.

Château Domeyne St-Estèphe, Bordeaux, France 2019 (£28.70, hhandc.co.uk)

Bordeaux gets a lot of stick for being expensive, stuffy and old fashioned. But the region’s best reds are still hard to beat for complexity, depth and sheer drinkability – all descriptions that fit this finely structured, strikingly pure and fluent bottle that is incredible value for a wine of this panache.

Meerlust Rubicon, Stellenbosch, South Africa 2021 (£41, waitrosecellar.com)

Another wine with a distinctly Bordeaux inspiration, Rubicon, the top red from historic South African estate Meerlust, is easily on a par with the French region’s best in this vintage, but the cedary, cassis, fig and cigar-box aromas, and the deeply luxurious feel, come at a fraction of the price.

M&S Found Moschofilero & Roditis, Peloponnese, Greece 2024 (£8.50, Marks & Spencer)

A white wine of real personality that can charm on its own but is quite happy with a variety of different nibbles and which, crucially, is not too expensive to get in a few bottles. This effortlessly zesty, fragrant, lemon-grove and pine-scented Greek dry white is one of the rare wines to tick all those party-season boxes.

Pikes Clare Valley Riesling, South Australia, Australia 2024 (£13, Tesco)

If there is a better quality, better value, more thirst-quenching, more unerringly laser-guided citrussy white wine condiment for seafood starters than this quintessential dry Australian riesling from the style’s spiritual home in the Clare Valley I’ll eat my Santa’s hat: the purest hit of lime (zest and juice) and a swish of steel.

BEST OF THE REST Wildeberg Coterie Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc, Coastal Region, South Africa 2022 (from £12.95, Booths, cheerswinemerchants.co.uk; ndjohn.co.uk)

As well as being masters of chenin blanc, South Africa’s winemakers are also dab hands at the Bordeaux-patented blend of barrel-fermented semillon and sauvignon blanc. This example, from fruit grown in ocean-cooled vineyards, is beautifully textured and richly, exotically fruited, with the pithy acidity to make it a very strong candidate for the smoked salmon.

Sierra de Toloño Rioja Blanco, Rioja, Spain 2024 (£18.50, leaandsandeman.co.uk)

Rioja is still overwhelmingly red-wine country, but its whites have never been better, and this 100% viura made by the outrageously talented Sandra Bravo’s Sierra de Toloño from higher-altitude vines is a beauty: light of alcohol, fleet of foot, gently chamomile and honeysuckle-floral but with real presence in its surge of fresh juicy pear.

Samuel Billaud Chablis, Burgundy, France 2022 (£30, Tesco)

Samuel Billaud is one of the finest purveyors of the pristine, propulsive and pure, quicksilver style of chardonnay that is chablis at its best, and this example from the lovely 2022 vintage is a cleanly rendered delight with so much zingy length and a burst of citrussy flavour; a super-stylish bottle for the big day’s first course.

Tbilvino Qvevris Rkatsiteli, Kakheti, Georgia 2022 (from £14, majestic.co.uk, Booths)

With their mix of white wine acidity and red wine grip, orange wines are such a useful, versatile style to serve with the array of flavours and textures on the average Christmas dinner plate, and this widely available and very good value example, from the style’s original home in Georgia, is an excellent choice for turkey and all the trimmings.

Tesco Finest Sauternes, France 2016 (£12, 37.5cl, Tesco)

A deserved multi-award-winner, this is a beautiful expression of the great Bordelais sweet-wine style, in which the lemon-and-lime marmalade tang weaves through delicate honeyed notes and a subtle buttered toast richness. Just about as good as it gets with Stilton, or any other blue cheese you might fancy.

Helmut Lang Eiswein, Burgenland, Austria 2019 (£28, 37.5cl, Waitrose)

Made from intensely concentrated grapes that have been harvested late in the year while they are frozen on the vine, Eiswein is necessarily rare and expensive (and very sweet). But, when made with skill and care, like this astonishing, golden, crystal-clear, crystalised-orange-and-apricot-flavoured Austrian goldmuskateller, it can be hauntingly beautiful.