Top tipples for every Christmas celebration

The Wine Flyer is giving you even more cause for celebration this Christmas. With every purchase, you can either spend your existing Avios or collect more Avios towards 2025’s adventures. Here’s our pick of the best tipples for every festive occasion.

For dinner parties

The smartest way to thank your host? With classic Champagne, of course. Steal the show on arrival with Angel Champagne’s Brut NV Halo edition (£101.49, or £5.09 + 15,275 Avios), whose traces of peach, almond and honeysuckle go gorgeously with aperitifs and oysters. Equally elegant is celebrated Laurent-Perrier and its La Cuvée Champagne Brut NV (£44.99, or £2.29 + 8,540 Avios). The delicate balance of citrus and floral flavours is a perfect pairing for both fish and puddings, so your cheerful contribution can be enjoyed throughout the night.

If the evening is one of hearty red meat and game, go for the rich, oak-spiced Château De Fieuzal Grand Cru Classé 2014 (£66.99, or £3.49 + 10,230 Avios). Or to end the meal on a holiday high, lush Borges LBV Port (£25.99, or £1.29 + 4,940 Avios) is a gamechanger for cheese, chocolate and red fruit puddings.

For festive film nights

Fewer occasions bring more joy than gathering with loved ones for a merrymaking movie marathon, and The Wine Flyer has drinks to match the mood of every Christmas classic. Open a bottle of lavish and fruity Il Volpetto Chianti DOCG from Tuscany (from £11.99, or 59p + 1,920 Avios), and travel back to the 1980s by watching a comedic cinepanettone film, a popular genre in Italy named after the Italian holiday cakes. Designed for communal viewing, a must-watch is Vacanze di Natale (Christmas Holiday).

For drama and decadence, there’s Louis Raynald Jean Côtes Du Rhône (from £12.99, or 69p + 1,945 Avios), an elegant, expressive vintage with a velvety texture that’s made for French war drama Joyeux Noel, based on the Christmas Eve truce during World War I. Can’t choose? The Wine Flyer’s Essential Mixed Christmas selection (£145.99, or £7.29 + 24,690 Avios) has wines suited for all the holiday romcoms, musicals, action blockbusters and everything in between.

For secret Santas

Choosing a secret Santa gift can be tricky, and The Wine Flyer covers all your choosy companions. For the sybaritic sipper and adventurer, iconic Champagne house Yellow Label and its Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label Champagne NV (£47.99, or £2.29 + 8,540 Avios) is teeming with citrus, walnut and green apple that elevate Japanese dishes.

Meanwhile, the award-winning Loch Lomond’s 18-year-old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (£89.99, or £4.49 plus 15,215 Avios) will put your cultured colleague into an epicurean euphoria involving baked apple, toffee and subtle smoke. Got a glamorous pal as your secret Santa? Whispering Angel’s dry and refreshing Côtes de Provence Rosé 2023 (£20.99, or £1.09 + 3,360 Avios) has sparked a rosé renaissance across the globe (bonus points go to its stylish wooden gift box).

For Christmas baking

There’s no cosier tradition than baking Christmas treats – especially when it includes wine tasting from the comfort of your kitchen. The bold Black Stump Durif Shiraz from Australia (from £12.99, or 69p + 2,070 Avios) has notes of ripe red fruit and spice that are sure to complement all the cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg wafting around from your cake and cookie creations, and the same is true of warming Cabalié from southern France (from £12.99, or 69p + 2,260 Avios), bursting with berries and sweet spices.

Keep tradition on its toes with fresh and zesty No. 8 Wire Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand (from £14.99, or 79p + 2,377 Avios) – its palette of passionfruit, gooseberry and tomato plant is great with shortbread. Keen to take the experimenting even further? Give Santa a taste of the tropics while savouring the Orbiel & Frères Chardonnay (from £11.99, or 59p + 1,900 Avios) – it’s packed with mango, kiwi, lime and vanilla.

For winter warmers 

Gliding around a snow-sprinkled rink is high on any Christmas checklist, as is a wine to warm up those chilly fingers (worth it, of course) soon after. Famed Cloudy Bay has set the benchmark for Marlborough wine, and its silky and sophisticated Pinot Noir 2021 (from £35.99, or £1.79 + 7,325 Avios) has a plush profile of rose petals, dark cherries and blackberries that will no doubt dethaw and delight.

Another opulent option is the satiny and subtle W/O Organic Frappato Red (from £13.99, or 69p + 2,045 Avios), whose raspberry, plum and red cherry sonata will transport your tastebuds (and icy toes) to sun-kissed Sicily. But it’s not just reds that offer a defrost fix: the Val St Pierre Viognier Pays Doc Igp from southern France (from £11.99, or 59p + 1,900 Avios) is brimming with ripe fruit and sweet flowers, with grapes grown in Mediterranean temperatures.    

For New Year’s Eve

If there’s one time to go all out, it’s New Year’s Eve, and The Wine Flyer’s Bestselling Mixed Selection (from £139.99, or £6.99 + 26,600 Avios) has your bash’s back – we tip our party hats to the light-bodied Alessandro Gallici Pinot Grigio in particular. Red-obsessed oenophiles can rejoice in the Bestselling Reds Selection (from £139.99, or £6.99 + 22,390 Avios) – our personal favourite is the Argentinian La Puerta Alta Malbec, whose hedonistic hints of deep black fruits and chocolate are reasons alone to celebrate. 

Ringing in 2025 with an intimate night in? Deserving its own special mention is luxurious Pillastro Primitivo from Puglia (£12.99, or 69p + 2,070 Avios) – its black fruit and balsamic undertones will have you planning your next Italian escapade before you can say ‘Happy New Year!’.

Prices correct at time of writing. The Wine Flyer may occasionally have to substitute bottles for another vintage or a different wine of at least equal value within a mixed case.