Our Christmas Wine Picks: Vintage Ports, Luxurious Bubblies and Spicing Up the Goose

James Suckling, Editor & CEO

Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port 1958

Niepoort Port Very Old Tawny Port VV

Stuart Pigott, Senior Editor

 Schiefer Blaufränkisch Burgenland Szapary S 2016

"Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat,” says an old English nursery rhyme. I love goose at Christmas, but what to drink with it? Normally we don't talk about food pairings; who wants to bomb out on a festive occasion? In this case, experience says that the  wine must have some power to stand up to the rich flavor of the meat, and enough acidity to cut the abundant fat. Fail on either and the combo will flop, possibly torpedoing the mood at the table.

So, I reached for one of my favorite reds from the blaufrankisch grape (kekfrankos in Hungary and lemberger in a bunch of other places). The Schiefer Blaufränkisch Burgenland Szapary S 2016 has spicy power and incredible mineral freshness thanks to the slate soil of the steep Szapary site. And now after few years of bottle maturation, it’s developing complex forest floor character, which adds to the excitement!

If you can’t find this vintage (which was very low yield) don’t worry. Uwe Schiefer made a bunch of fantastic wines from this site. And Peking duck would be another great combination if you don’t want to go with goose!

Jim Gordon, Editor-at-Large

Taylor Fladgate Vintage Porto 1994

Jim has been waiting more than 25 years to drink this great vintage Port, and he has decided not to wait any longer. Jim bought six bottles each of the Fonseca and Taylor 1994s in the mid 1990s based on James’ glowing reviews. He says, “At about 10 years old they were definitely too young, then at 20 years the miracle of maturity was just beginning to happen. Now at 31 years old the Taylor should be fantastic with some roasted walnuts and Stilton cheese.”

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Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor

Domaine Jean-Paul & Benoît Droin Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos Hommage a Louis 2023

Zekun picked a classic Chablis Grand Cru, the Domaine Jean-Paul & Benoît Droin Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos Hommage a Louis 2023, to celebrate Christmas. He believes that every holiday feast deserves a sparkling toast, followed by a very good, gastronomic white that captures the essence of celebration.

Coming from one of the oldest and most consistent producers in Chablis, Les Clos Hommage a Louis will be a serious pour, if not a showstopper. Expect not only lemon zest, green apples and a strong mineral appeal on the nose, but also a deep set of flavors, with volume, density and power. The wine, which should evolve with time in the glass, beckons to be savored amid heartfelt conversations with family and friends. And with its DIAM cork, there's no need to worry about a bummer for Christmas dinner!

Claire Nesbitt, Staff Writer & Critic

Rare Champagne 2013

I always start with Champagne on Christmas Day. This year, I’ll be opening a bottle of Rare Champagne 2013. It’s from a cool and electric vintage in Champagne, but Rare is always a multifaceted wine and the 2013 is creamy and saline, with delicious brown butter, pastry and salted almond aromas. If only I had another bottle to revisit it with minced pies or apple crumble – a traditional Christmas dessert in the Nesbitt household. But it will be a delicious and luxurious wine to ring in Christmas lunch.

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Aldo Fiordelli, Senior Editor

Henriot Souverain Brut Champagne

Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigneto Il Poggio 2011

Pellegrino Marsala Vergine Riserva No. 018

For the holidays, I’ve tucked away a magnum of Henriot Souverain Brut Champagne — classic but quietly complex, mostly chardonnay and pinot noir with just a supçon of meunier, polished by about 30 percent reserve wines and a modest eight grams per liter of residual sugar. In other words, it’s friendly without being dumbed down, festive without feeling showy – the kind of bottle that keeps the peace at the family toast and makes everyone happy.

The main wine, though, will be a Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico from our Top 100 Wines of Italy 2025 report, but from the 2011 vintage. It’s a year that leans powerful and a little rustic, yet layered, detailed and deep – the sort of wine that doesn’t rush to impress but rewards attention.

And then, because I’m not much for sweet wines, I’ll close with a Pellegrino Marsala Vergine Riserva No. 018 from a single barrel. If your idea of Marsala stops at veal scaloppine, this will come as a surprise – the kind that hits even harder in the glass. Dry, fortified and unmistakably Sicilian, it’s my personal coup de théâtre for jolting a drowsy post-Christmas lunch back to life, with no added sugar to compete with Italy’s holiday desserts, panettone very much included.

Kevin Davy, Tasting Manager

Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas Les Hautes Garrigues 2020

My Christmas wine this year will be the Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas Les Hautes Garrigues 2020. It is a bottle I have kept in the cellar for over a year now, since I bought it while waiting for the right occasion. This wine is robust and intense, so a little aging is often beneficial to achieve greater harmony and integration. It is a complex wine made from 50 percent mourvedre and 50 percent grenache from old vines, aged in large casks and clay amphorae, mostly whole-bunch fermented, and biodynamically grown. I tasted it on another occasion last year, and I can imagine how it will have evolved by now. It will pair perfectly with the truffled venison stew I will be cooking for Christmas lunch. Harmony through complexity and a touch of patience. Merry Christmas!

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Courtney Humiston, Staff Writer & Taster

Pierre Gerbais Champagne Grains de Celles Extra-Brut

Domaine Anne Sophie Dubois Fleurie Les Labourons 2023

The Color Collector Vermouth

This Christmas, we are going to start with a bottle of Pierre Gerbais Grains de Celles Extra-Brut from the village of Celles-sur-Ource in the Aube region of Champagne. This wine has the distinction of being made with 25 percent pinot blanc (as well as chardonnay and pinot noir). I love pinot blanc in Champagne and you don't see it very often! This bottling comes entirely from the 2021 vintage and is aged for 30 months en tirage with just 3 grams/l of dosage. It is a gorgeous wine. Very fresh with chalk, citrus and delicate yeasty notes and the pinot blanc gives it a unique texture and concentration that marries wonderfully with the dense and delightful mousse. It finishes clean but long with that quenching quality that calls for another sip. A perfect aperetif (and organically farmed).

Second, one must have a magnum of Beaujolais on the holiday table, in my opinion! I found a beautiful bottle of Domaine Anne Sophie Dubois Fleurie Les Labourons 2023 at my friend's wine shop, Taborly, in Portland in July and I've been saving it for the holidays. If I had to choose, I would say Fleurie is my favorite Cru in Beaujolais, and this wine, from a single granitic vineyard, has all the bright fruit but is resoundingly mineral; fresh, complex and soulful. Anne-Sophie wines make me very happy.

Last, we have a lovely little bottle of The Color Collector Vermouth from White Salmon, a charming town in Washington State on the Columbia Gorge. Winemaker Bethany Kimmel uses organically farmed gamay as its base and is infused with 15 different botanicals, fortified with pinot noir brandy and sweetened with honey from her own bees. She makes such a small amount that I haven't even tried it, so I'm looking forward to a cozy after-dinner treat by the fire. I'll chill it and serve it in tiny coupes or over ice with a slice of satsuma tangerine.

Ryan Montgomery, Associate Editor

Hyde de Villaine Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros Hyde Vineyard Comandante 2023

At Christmas, I always look for a wine I genuinely want to sit with for a few hours – something that holds my attention, works across the table and still feels serious enough to justify opening a great bottle among family and friends. The Hyde de Villaine Chardonnay Napa Valley Carneros Hyde Vineyard Comandante 2023 is exactly that wine for me this year. I don’t say this lightly, but it’s one of the best chardonnays I tasted from California's 2023 vintage, and it comfortably stands alongside the very best wines of the vintage anywhere in the world. From Hyde de Villaine and the Hyde Vineyard in Carneros, it’s a bottle I’d happily open on Christmas Day and let evolve slowly over a long lunch. Drink now, or hold – either way, it feels genuinely special. What really draws me in is how it sits right on that edge of reduction I love, with struck match, citrus oil and oyster shell setting the tone. But it’s the balance that seals it: bright, driving acidity, real power without any heaviness, and a saline, mineral edge that keeps pulling me back for another glass.

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Andrii Stetsiuk, Associate Editor

Burn Cottage Pinot Noir Central Otago Lowburn Sabine’s Selection 2022

After a busy and at times intense year, Andrii chose the Burn Cottage Pinot Noir Central Otago Lowburn Sabine’s Selection 2022 as a natural reflection of both his work and personal wine journey, which included his first visit to New Zealand in 2025. That experience opened a new chapter in how Andrii thinks about purity, untouched nature and how landscape translates into wine, so choosing a New Zealand bottle for Christmas feels instinctive.

While he hasn’t yet traveled to Central Otago, tasting through its pinot noirs left a strong impression, and this wine, from a 24-hectare, organically farmed estate in the foothills of the Pisa Range, captures the region’s refined yet quietly wild character. It shows clarity, restraint and balance, making it a thoughtful and grounding choice for Christmas.

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Brian Freedman, Staff Writer & Taster

GAJA Sperss 2003

A little less than two decades ago, my father and I purchased a case of GAJA Sperss 2003. Over the years, we've opened several bottles to help celebrate family milestones — birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and more. It's been fascinating to follow the evolution of this fantastic wine, and now, more than 22 years after the grapes were harvested, it is absolutely singing. So the game-plan is this: Every year, on New Year's Day, my parents have the family over to their place for lunch, for which my mother always cooks a decadent menu and my father pops corks from the collection he's amassed over a lifetime. This bottle of GAJA will undoubtedly be a highlight of the lineup that day, and a reminder, as it always has been, that the best wine experiences are just as much about who you share your most precious bottles with as about the liquid in your glass. And in this case, they will all overlap perfectly: Great wine and food, family and a delicious start to the new year: What more could we ask for?