The Week Wine Club: The perfect case for Christmas, from our partner Lea & Sandeman

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published 25 November 2016

There are any number of anniversaries that are worth celebrating with decent wine, and Christmas has to be one of the most legitimate. After all, you’re surrounded by family and friends, there should be an excess of good food – and you don’t have to go to work the next day. For this Christmas selection, I was lucky to have the counsel of Charles Lea from Lea & Sandeman to find a brilliant choice of wines to suit all dishes and tastes, starting with a superb grand cru champagne, and ending with a ten-year old tawny port.

Lea & Sandeman are one of the most innovative established London wine merchants, ferreting out smaller producers from around the globe who take real pride in their product. Charles, who founded Lea & Sandeman with the late Patrick Sandeman in 1988, has maintained their high standards in four London locations: Chelsea, Kensington, Barnes & Chiswick, as well well as online.

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Barnaut Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru Champagne NV 12.5% When it comes to the major champagne marques, picking one non-vintage bottle from another is tricky, as they rarely have distinctive characteristics. The only exceptions are Krug and Bollinger, but this obscure Blanc de Noirs is rated above Bollinger NV by wine guru Robert Parker. I adored the brioche and nutty overtones, plus the considerable depth of its mid-palate flavours. Made from grand cru blackskinned pinot grapes from the Bouzy region, it has the presence and backbone to go with food or even just cheese. The Week Wines price: £155.70, usually £177.00. Click here to order

Pouilly-Fuissé Alliance Vieilles Vignes 2014 13% This isn’t cheap, but a wine made from 40 to 60-year-old vines in Burgundy is never going to be. There is a real energy in this wine, with its hint of smoky oak, and the underlying citrusy flavour makes it superb with food. I had it with a fresh skate wing, and found it profoundly enjoyable. It has enjoyed rave reviews, and I loved its honeyed mid-palate yet traditional mineral ending. Pouilly-Fuissé is definitely on the Chablis spectrum of Burgundy, but overall it has a lighter touch. The Week Wines price: £215.40, usually £251.40. Click here to order

Touraine Les Sauterelles Domaine de Pierre, Lionel Gosseaume 2015 13.5% If you are fixated by in-your-face New Zealand sauvignon blanc, look away now. This is a more delicate, less chalky version of Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé, its better-known neighbours in the Loire. It definitely has the characteristic grassy perfumed flavours of the sauvignon blanc grape, but in a more gentle style. You could drink this without food as a refreshing start to a meal, but it would also hold its own with shellfish or oysters. It is quite addictive and, as is the case with a lot of white wines, more rounded and satisfying when it has spent some time in the glass and gained a little in temperature. The Week Wines price: £107.40, usually £131.40. Click here to order

Le Petit Roy Domaine Jean Royer Vin de Table 2015 14.5% Don’t be put off by the relative youth of this wine – it has real style and character. Essentially, it consists of the wine that doesn’t make it into Royer’s award winning Châteauneuf-du-Pape from the Southern Rhône. Made for easy – and early – drinking, its freshness and peppery overtones make it immediately appealing. The grape varieties are predominantly grenache, with some syrah and mourvedre to add complexity. The Week Wines price: £143.40, usually £174.00. Click here to order

Château Carlmagnus, Fronsac 2011 14% Fronsac, once more famous than its Right Bank neighbours of Pomerol and St Emilion, is now is the most overlooked wine region in Bordeaux. The wines are robust and long-lasting, and predominantly made from merlot and cabernet franc. I was still drinking £4 Fronsacs more than a decade after I laid them down in 1998 and 2000. This particular wine is 100% merlot and aged in new oak, with a production of around 1,000 cases. It is reminiscent of a St Emilion with its appealing black fruit aromas and power, and would be an ideal partner for roast goose or beef. The Week Wines price: £200.40, usually £239.40. Click here to order

Mercurey Premier Cru Les Naugues Domaine Paul et Marie Jacqueson 2012 13% How many times have you heard wine lovers say they like red Burgundy, but unless you spend a small fortune, too often it ends up being lean and mean with no body? In response, I say: please try this premier cru Mercurey. Helped by its 50-year-old vines, it’s hard to distinguish from its Côte d’Or neighbours to the north – and it is made by Marie Jacqueson, who was recently named Young Winemaker of the Year at the Hospices de Beaune. Ready to drink, it has exceptional depth and power, which makes it ideal with any main course, including turkey or goose for Christmas. The Week Wines price: £236.40, usually £275.40. Click here to order

Quinta da Romaneira 10-year-old Tawny 19.5% Port has been in decline for decades, what with its association with gentlemen’s clubs, gout and confusion about which way it should be passed at the dinner table (it’s clockwise). If you can’t ignore all this baggage for Christmas, there is something wrong with you. This relative newcomer is under the management of Christian Seely and Antonio Agrellas, who revived the reputation of the renowned Quinta do Noval. It has a pleasant pale brick colour, and a chocolatey backbone with hints of cherries, warm strawberries and mixed herbs. There is nothing I would rather have with Stilton. Included in the Christmas mixed case. Click here to order

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