Throughout St James’s the window displays offer an enticing picture of festive life: cheeses from Paxtons, cigars from Foxs, hats from Locks, country clothing from William Evans. I wonder what will be under the tree for me…

As a lover of wine and food, I always look forward to Christmas with relish. I value the tradition of staving off the ravages of mid-winter with a long-running feast that runs the gamut from fish to meats of all varieties, fruit and savouries, cheeses, sweets and chocolate. And if somebody has to volunteer for the task of choosing wines to match such a variety of dishes, well, it might be as well be me.

I’ve got something rather special in store for our main meal this year. Christmas is a time for treating yourself to delicacies that you wouldn’t normally indulge in, so we’ll be starting with lobster and following it with roast goose. Goose has a richer, stronger flavour. It’s also a smaller bird than the turkey, which means we won’t be eating it in all manner of soups, pies and curries right through until Easter.

To accompany the lobster I’ve chosen a 2009 Grüner Veltliner, Lamm from Schloss Gobelsburg. This is an intense Austrian wine with the mineral precision you’d expect from Burgundy and a wonderful, white pepper finish. It’s superb with lobster and scallops.

The goose is going to get the benefit of Giuseppe Mascarello’s magnificent 2003 Barolo, Cru Monprivato, Castiglione Falletto. Again, choosing a Piedmont is a slight departure from the traditional Bordeaux but the Barolo is absolutely delicious now. It has classic notes of ripe cherries, roses, minerals, flowers and herbs, and very silky tannins make it a fabulous pairing with goose or duck.

I must make sure I don’t rush the main course just to get to the pud, but with a Malmsey 10-year-old Madeira, Broadbent Selection waiting for me, it won’t be easy. Madeira’s such a wonderful wine and this is a superb, full-bodied, wonderfully rich example that’s absolutely glorious with Christmas pudding or indeed Montgomery Cheddar.

Please accept my best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

But back to the wintery weather. One of our favourite coctails, ‘The Rusty Tack’, is a sophisticated take on a classic whisky cocktail that blends equal measures (we recommend 35ml) of The King’s Ginger and Cutty Sark Whisky, and is bound to keep the chills at bay.

The toothsome combination of ginger and citrus flavours makes The King’s Ginger a natural store cupboard essential and we have also put together some pudding recipes that include The King’s Ginger.

There are doubtless many other delicious ways to include this seductive liqueur in your cooking – let us know if you’ve come up with any yourself!

The King’s Ginger Snaps
Ingredients:
50g unsalted butter
50g caster sugar
50g golden syrup
50g plain flour
1/2 tsp grated root ginger
Grated zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp The King’s Ginger
The Cream:
250ml double cream
Zest of 1 lemon and 1 lime
1 heaped tsp of stem ginger in syrup, drained and chopped finely
2 tbsp The King’s Ginger

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two large baking sheets with baking parchment. Melt the butter, syrup and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the flour, lemon zest, grated ginger and The King’s Ginger to this mixture; stir until well combined. Drop one teaspoon of the mixture onto the baking sheet, 10cm apart. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until bubbling, lacy and a deep caramel colour.
Remove from oven. Let the snaps cool slightly, and then lift with a palette knife. Quickly roll around the handle of a wooden spoon to form a tube shape. Cool on a wire rack. These can be kept in an airtight tin for a week. Serve with The King’s Ginger cream.
Whip the double cream to soft peaks. Fold in the remaining ingredients. Chill until serving. This can be piped into the ginger snaps or served alongside in a small pot.

The King’s Ginger Truffles
Ingredients:
200g good quality dark chocolate
175ml double cream
5 tbsp The King’s Ginger
1 tsp of finely chopped drained stem ginger in syrup
Line a baking tray with cling film. Break the chocolate into small pieces and drop into a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate is melted. Add The King’s Ginger and the chopped stem ginger. Mix well. Leave in bowl and allow to cool to room temperature (about 2 hours).
Using a melon baller or teaspoon, scoop out bite sized pieces and roll into even shaped balls. Roll in cocoa powder and place on baking sheet. Chill in the fridge. Serve with after dinner coffee and a chilled shot of The King’s Ginger.

For more cocktail and recipe ideas click here. To learn more about The King’s Ginger watch this fun video.

The 1994 Warre is clearly a superlative wine with awesome potential. Very much in a closed stage it still showed Warre’s elegant, harmonious style and is a vintage that looks set to rival the very best. 1997 Dow likewise showed the shipper’s typically firm dryness, but is just beginning to reveal some more mature notes. 2000 Graham more than lives up to its millennium label and while not unapproachable to taste, it is a wine of huge richness and depth that will last and last. 2003 was unnaturally hot for most of Europe, but wasn’t so out-of-the-ordinary for the upper Douro where 40+ degrees is not uncommon – the vines just closed down in the heat meaning picking was late. The 2003 Warre on show revealed a typical floral style and has, reassuringly, plenty of promise ahead.

There is little doubt that these latter years have benefited from varietal planting and the subsequent picking by variety rather than plot regardless of which vine was grown there; as well as the successful introduction by the Symington group of auto-lagares for much of their Vintage Port’s production: a more reliable, more controllable, and eventually more cost-effective method.

The mid-1970s were not Portugal’s, nor the Port wine trade’s, finest years due to political unrest, but the 1977 vintage saw markets expand after a difficult few years globally. The 1977 Dow was certainly agreeable but one can’t deny it is not showing the potential first awarded the vintage. 1983 Graham revealed an aged character of coffee and even toffee notes and 1985 Warre  was integrated, soft and rounded. We didn’t have a 1980 to show, which is a pity as the Symington wines excelled in this vintage – and I haven’t seen a 1975 for ages, these were in some cases finally proving their worth but only at their last breath. Time will tell just how 1977, 1983 and 1985 fare – but I for one, with a few exceptions, go with the trend and recommend they be considered ready for drinking.

Mature Vintage Port is one of wine’s greatest achievements – it is so often the most remembered wine of a meal and this usually from those who all too frequently claim never to touch a drop. The 1945 Dow, from one of the most evocative of all years, pretty much anywhere, had a richness and power that defines all that is best in great Vintage Port – quite literally dissolving in the mouth. 1955 Graham in magnum showed a glowing sweetness of fruit and can be classed as ‘gently fading’ now; the 1963 Warre had a delicacy (house style again) yet also a punchiness from the vintage that saw the Port trade’s revival after the post-war slump. 1966 Graham  showed more evolvement than 1963, a hot vintage even for the Douro and harder to manage in those days but still developing and very satisfying. 1970 Dow  ticked all the boxes: elegant and amenable, with some energetic tannins still there to tickle the tongue – it is a delicious vintage to drink now or keep another 20 years.

It was a relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable evening which will have revealed to all some more about the Douro and the sheer dedication and long-term commitment the Symingtons, and others, have for their wines. They are among the very best in the world.

It was fun too to listen to Messrs Symingtons’ coy observations on whether 2007 will be declared a vintage come April. The Port shippers are bound by the IVDP not to declare until authorised formally, but it is looking an odds-on certainty that come St George’s Day (in fact the Symingtons like to come out a day or two earlier, that is, of course, if they do declare…) a very high quality, though low quantity, 2007 vintage will be declared. We will keep you updated!