Back to basics at Christmas

Christmas lunch is the perfect opportunity to return to basics. If you're lucky enough to have your own cellar, it's the time to dust off a suitably matured bottle of claret or burgundy. If you're not, read on.

For a traditional starter like smoked salmon, a classy dry white burgundy is called for. The complex, unoaked 1999 Chablis Premier Cru Montmain from Marks & Spencer is reduced to two for £20. Benoit Ente's 1999 Bourgogne Blanc (£12.99, Hoults, West Yorks, 01484 510700; Philglas & Swiggot, London SW11, 020-7924 4494) is another classic drop, intensely flavoured and elegant for a young white burgundy. Or try the fulsome, characterful 1999 Meursault Villages, from Henri Germain (£17.95, Adnams, Suffolk, 01502 727222). If you're in the mood to splash out, vintage champagne is both festive and has the body and complexity for most fish starters. There's real finesse in the 1995 Piper Heidsieck (£25, Waitrose) or the toasty, all-chardonnay 1995 Orpale Champagne (£30, in its own box, Marks & Spencer).

For the turkey, read French, and in particular claret. It is also sufficiently delicate for vegetarian dishes, but the problem with it is that too much of it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, or none at all. Not, however, the 1999 Château Cambon La Pelouse (£11.99, Waitrose), a Médoc with sweet cedar notes streaked with spice and concentrated, velvety fruit. Alternatively, go for the extra-sweet succulence of a fine, merlot-based Saint-Émilion such as the pure and sumptuously fruity 1999 Château Rozier Grand Cru (around £12, Bennetts, Chipping Campden, 01386 840392; Ravensbourne Wine Company, Greenwich, 020-8692 9655; Noel Young Wines, Cambridge, 01223 844744).

Fine red burgundy and fair value are rare bedfellows, but the two happily co-exist in the very modern, strawberryish qualities of the 1999 Savigny-lès-Beaune from Philippe Girard (£12.50-£14.99, Great Gaddesden Wines, Herts, 01442 412312; Philglas & Swiggot, London). A notch more intense, the 2000 Domaine René Monnier Beaune Premier Cru Les Toussaints (£16.99, Sainsbury's) is a pristine pinot noir with delicate raspberry fruit gift-wrapped in toasty oak and silky, seductive tannins. The 2000 Gevrey Chambertin Clos Prieur from Domaine Marc Roy (£16.99, Majestic) is equally intense with fine mulberry and loganberry flavours, a little more oaky, but throatily sexy. Capping the lot, from New Zealand's Central Otago region, the 2001 Mount Edward Pinot Noir (£23.75, Berry Bros & Rudd, London SW1, 0870 9004300) is a knockout, with the sheer elegance and wonderfully complex, raspberry fruitiness of a top premier cru red burgundy.

With Christmas pudding, the refreshing qualities of a sweet and grapey fizz chime nicely. The 2001 Alasia Moscato d'Asti (£4.99, Waitrose) has just the sort of freshly crushed Muscat character to offset the pudding. Or try the 1999 Handpicked Late Harvest Semillon (£5.99 for half-bottle, Safeway), an Aussie sticky that oozes decadently with the luscious overtones of caramelized oranges and lemons, while retaining a tangy orange-peel freshness.

And for that Stilton moment? No traditional Christmas Day lunch would be quite complete without a vintage port: 1997 Dow's Crusted Port (£12.99, Waitrose, Booths) is a rich and peppery-spicy example of the style with the requisite Christmas-cake fruitiness. As it's a traditional style, and forms a sediment, make sure you decant on Christmas morning – but don't pour it over the Stilton.