I like to start Christmas with a glass of Champagne and the refined elegance of Billecart Salmon  fits the bill perfectly.

Moving on to white wine to serve with oysters I would select a Chablis, and the biting, mouth-watering minerality of Billaud Simon ’s wines has no peer in my book.

With turkey I eschew the tannins of Claret in favour of the aromatic quality and silky texture of Pinot Noir. Denis Bachelet’s Gevrey Chambertin Vieilles Vignes does the trick, the older the better as his wines never reveal their true potential in youth.

I prefer a much lighter dessert than Christmas pudding, but if I were having it I would drink a great old Oloroso such as Lustau Old East India; this has amazing raisiny, figgy characteristics with wonderful length and enough concentration to stand up to the pudding.

With cheese I like to have port, particularly for the blue cheese such as Roquefort or Stilton, and I shall be opening Dow 1983 this year in the expectation that it is now reaching peak maturity.

Rounding all of this off, a glass of Berrys Cognac Reserve, a beautifully rounded, aromatic spirit of great smoothness would fit the bill. This acts as a digestif and hopefully wards off the need for Zantac to become the next course!

For more of my favourites, take a look at my Christmas Wine Video Podcask where I describe my favourite Christmas Day wines in our Pickering Cellars at 3 St James’s St in London.

 Have a very merry Christmas!

For all those intrigued by the chocolate & wine debate, a recent tasting trip of mine to Tuscany threw some more light on the subject.  

We were approaching the end of a wonderful lunch, held by Dr. Thomas Bär (pictured with his wife Monika Bettschart) of Chianti Classico producer Gagliole, when he produced a bowl brimming with the finest Lindt chocolates.

Bitter black with the silkiest of textures, the chocolates perfectly complimented their 2005 Chianti Classico, a fine match for the bright raspberry-esque fruit flavours & fine tannins.

Now who would have thought..?

The A to Z of great Burgundy growers for the next generation is now assured with the birth of Aubert on Tuesday 4th December to Diana and Jeremy Seysses (left) of Domaine Dujac, following the arrival of Zachary to Libbi and Benjamin Leroux (below right) of Domaine du Comte Armand in July.

Babies, proud parents and even prouder grandparents are all doing well. It will be a while before Aubert or Zachary push their parents aside in the vineyard or cellar, but fortunately Burgundy has a great group of vignerons at the helm at the moment.

One such, Christophe Roumier (below left), came over to London last week to host a dinner matching a range of his succulent wines with chef Michael Nunn’s beautifully crafted food.

The mushrooms were magical (not magic!), Michael, and a great backdrop to the pairing of 2002 Chambolle Musigny (starting to show its full flavours) and the more backward Morey St Denis Clos Bussière. Much as we enjoyed the two vintages of Ruchottes Chambertin (1999 and 1995) with the duck, both were eclipsed by some heavenly bottles of the unfindable 1988 Bonnes Mares Vieilles Vignes from Christophe’s cellar.

We snatched a moment before the dinner to interview Christophe about the 2006 vintage, available for sale in January. Don’t forget to check back into Berrys’ Wine Podcasks later this month, when you’ll be able to catch up with Christophe’s views.

A few years ago Glengoyne distillery released their Scottish oak finish matured single malt. This was a nice piece of marketing and, critically, the product was very good. It is never likely that there will be swathes of the great Scottish oak forests toppling to keep up with demand as commercially it is rather an expensive process but there is a true ring of Scottish provenance about it. Perhaps I’m having a Braveheart moment!

The Scottish whisky industry is remarkably dynamic in its ability to stimulate drinkers with innovative offerings and particularly the increasing array of wood finished whiskies. I have no problem with these as long as the final product tastes good - and in the main it does. I have, however, tasted some whiskies in recent years that boasted connections to exotic wine or other casks and have found little or nothing relevant in the flavour. Very often a synthetic vein ran through the spirit that did not integrate well.

My main concern is that the procedure, heralded as enhancement, is sometimes being used to dress-up immature or relatively characterless spirit. It is quite simple – put good spirit into good wood for the right length of time and you get good whisky! My preference is for good old fashioned malt whisky that has spent all of its life in a monogamous relationship with one cask. At least you know what you are getting. Does it really have to run off with a younger cask for a six month fling?

My other concern is that often the type of finishing wood used is promoted with seemingly more importance than the actual whisky. Who is the boss in this relationship?

Long live experimentation and diversity but the industry must be careful not to damage a hard-earned reputation for quality with contrived makeovers.