Christmas is a break from work so is an ideal time to eat and drink. If one is cooking a baroque feast it only seems reasonable to have something nice to drink. Here are some suggestions.

Of course, turkey is a dreadful bird that is almost invariably dry and tasteless. If you are mis-guided enough to cook turkey you'll something refreshing and thirst-quenching to drink. German Riesling at Kabinett or Spätlese ripeness works quite well. 2004s and 2005s are sitting on a lot of shelves at the moment and they have plenty of fruit and good acidity so make for crowd-pleasing drinks. The last time I was unfortunate enough to eat turkey I enjoyed some rather nice Chablis with it. Look out for 2002s and 2004s. Macon or Pouilly-Fuissé are also good matches, again 2004s and 2002s are good to drink well.

If you want something with a bit more character than boring turkey then a decent chicken can provide pleasure. I've ordered a 4.5kg chicken for general eating purposes from this place. If you are eating chicken you really want to make sure it is free-range and has been generally well treated. Poulet de Bresse are damned good birds (if a bit small) and are getting more generally available these days. If you have a good enough bird then it will be worthy of some serious wine. I suggest damned good white Burgundy from one of the three big villages, Meursault, Chassagne-Montrachet or Puligny-Montrachet. Try and get a decent Premier Cru and serve it slightly chilled, not at fridge temperature. Savennières is also a good match.

For a properly baroque Christmas feast you'll be cooking goose. I have ordered one from the same place I got the chicken from. Goose meat is very rich and fatty and also quite gamey. Again, serious white Burgundy is a good match. I've got a bottle of Lafon Meursault Premier Cru Charmes to have with it. Because of the richness of goose they also go quite well with richer wines. Alsace Pinot Gris is a good match, and German Auslesen with a bit of age works very well. The darker meat of goose can also stand up to red wine. I would suggest a lighter-style red Burgundy that has a bit of age on it. If you have access to any Chambolle-Musigny or Volnay this would be an ideal match.

Whatever you cook and drink I hope Christmas for you will be as excessive and hedonistic as it will be at casa Strange. Hooray for good food and drink!

This is a blend of Syrah and Grenache from the South-West of France. Collioure is produced in the same region as Banyuls.

Collioure Coume Pascole 2003, Domaine de la Rectorie
A rich, warming nose of plums, pepper and herbs. This smells reasonably complex for such an affordable wine, even though the alcohol stands out a bit. The palate is warming too, but it also has very nice ripe fruit. The Syrah pepperiness is there too. The palate is also reasonably complex. It has a good long finish, although perhaps a tad warm right at the end. This wine is a lot of fun now, but I think it'll easily hang around for a few years and mellow into something scented and charming.

This afternoon I am drinking with a past captain of the Oxford blind tasting team. He lost when he was captain, I won. We finished off the Spätlese from last night then obviously needed to move on to red wine. Sadly, the bottle we popped is not entirely satisfactory.

Chambolle-Musigny 2000, Ghislaine Barthod
The nose of this is quite woody and strangely chocolaty, it doesn't really smell like my idea of Chambolle. It is also distractingly alcoholic and lacking any fresh, charming fruit. The palate is reasonably balanced, with good acidity, but fruit is really lacking. It is quite tannic. What I find disappointing about this wine is that it really lacks the charm and pleasure of good Burgundy, my colleague suggests it even lacks the charm and pleasure of average Burgundy. I find this wine boring and depressing; I want racy, hedonistic excitement and this just delivers an extra-large helping of dullness.

I am back drinking again! Hooray! A modest little number to get me warmed up. Very good things have been said about the 2005 vintage in Germany. This was bottled with a screw cap which might explain its very fresh condition.

Riesling Spätlese Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz 2005, J. Leitz
The nose is really quite yeasty, but there is some aristocratic citrus fruit behind that. It is very ripe on the nose. The minerality on the nose is a touch metallic, which gives the nose a slight hint of tinned peas. This is not unattractive, though. Mmmmm... what a tasty wine. Lovely fruit on the entry followed up by good minerality and acidity. It is very focused despite its ripeness. The acidity leaves the finish to be very refreshing. Perhaps not the most complex of wines, but it is a charming little number.

Many apologies for the lack of entries over the past couple of weeks. Something went wrong with my stomach operation and I was feeling violently ill. It seems to have cleared up over the past couple of days so normal service should be resumed at the weekend. What to drink, what to drink?

I've got some 2003 Port, and so should anybody with a cellar. Buying magnums might be a bit crazy, though....

Vintage Port 2003, Fonseca: Even in this beast of a vintage Fonseca Port has good elegance and refinement. Excellent vintage Port from a top producer. £50.23 from Four Walls Wine. They've got magnums too.

Vintage Port 2003, Taylor's: More fiery than the Fonseca this is still excellent stuff. It'll last forever. £48.23 from Four Walls Wine. They also have magnums of this. Readers in London who only want the odd bottle can also get both of these Ports from Fortnum and Mason for roughly the same price.

Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru la Romanée 2002, Domaine Vincent Dancer: A very good vintage from this excellent producer. Finely detailed, intellectual wines that are also not short on hedonism. £46.41 from Four Walls Wine.

Morey-Saint-Denis 2001, Domaine Arlaud: Just starting to be ready to drink. A good 2001 Morey that really shows some good character. £21.50 from Stone, Vine and Sun.

Collioure Coume Pascole 2003, Domaine de La Rectorie: A Syrah/Grenache blend from the almost unheard of Collioure region in the South-West of France. This is a bit of a beast, but a fun drink. It'll age, too. £15.50 from Stone, Vine and Sun.

Two magnums of Port! Hooray!

Good Port, too. 2003 was a great vintage for Port and who could possibly sniff at Taylor's and Fonseca? Now all I have to do is hope I last long enough for them to  be ready. I'll need some help to finish magnums of Port so I hope all of my friends don't start hating me.

Lovely people and good friends, the neighbours. We seem to have been following each other across London for quite a while, now. I greatly appreciate the gifts.

Fonseca Guimararens 1988
A pure, refined nose of pure blueberry fruit. It smells very elegant for Port. No shortage of concentration, though. There is elegance and refinement on the palate, too, with great layers of flavour. The fruit is quite lovely. This is a really excellent Port.

Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas 1988
The nose of this explodes with hedonistic excitement and power. Huge power, weight and concentration. It also smells very much like the homemade blueberry rum I made. The palate is a fireball of intensity, hugely fruity, hugely tannic, hugely concentrated. Real length and style here too. This is a really excellent Port as well.

Votes for the best: 3 for Fonseca and only me for Taylor's. They are both pretty freaking nice, though.

I have some friends coming around for dinner tonight to assist with the celebration of me becoming even more rancid and old. I thought I'd open a magnum of wine. Since the cooking is now pretty much complete I thought I'd pop the bottle early and write a tasting note now so I don't have to write it up later. With wine this good it promises to be a fun night.

Bandol Cuvée Spéciale 1997 en magnum, Domaine Tempier
A lovely, complex nose of sweet, ripe fruit, grilled meat, under-growth and a degree of arsehole character. It really smells quite lovely and almost fully mature. The palate is surprisingly refined for a Bandol. It has plenty of fruit, good density and a silky tannic structure. The finish is very long and refined. It tastes perfectly mature yet still full of life and not in the least bit dried-out. This is quite an excellent magnum of Bandol that I think we will all enjoy with the daube I have cooked for dinner tonight.

This is one of the very few Cabernet-based wines I buy with any regularity. It is usually quite fun, in a big sort of way, and people have assured me it ages to something quite lovely. I've got another bottle in my cellar so we'll see about that.

Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, Moss Wood
The nose has a very powerful blackcurrant and cedar-wood aroma. It also seems pretty oaky and the high alcohol level really stands out. This smells like Claret++. The palate is certainly large-scale, bold and even heroic, but the tannic structure is really quite refined. The alcohol stands out a bit on the finish, as does the oak, but the fruit persists too and there is plenty of it. This may be big, but it is not a beast and I think it has reasonable balance for a wine of this size. I don't really feel confident predicting how this will age, but the finely-grained tannins, reasonable acidity and good fruit levels suggest it should hang around at the very least. Given how much I am non-plussed by Cabernet and dislike high-alcohol wines in general, I am surprised to admit I really quite like this.

PS. Is it me or does the Moss Wood Cabernet label look quite a lot like the Pichon-Lalande label?

The Tourtine was very nice, but since we had guests I decided to open its sister wine.

Bandol Cuvée Spéciale la Migoua 1997, Domaine Tempier
A rich, herbal nose that is fruity and floral with a suggestion of a medicinal character. This is complex and heady. The palate is a tiny bit more acidic than the Tourtine but has a more finely-grained texture. It is still pretty silky and smooth. This is just about reaching maturity, too, but it has many years to go.

Some people are shocked when I say that Bandol, especially old Bandol, smells of arseholes. I can understand this, but I really have to stress it is not necessarily a bad aroma; nice arseholes, if such a thing exists.

Bandol Cuvée Spéciale la Tourtine 1997, Domaine Tempier
A soft nose, that has grilled meat, ripe, dark fruits and the merest hint of arseholes. It is very complex and earthy. The alcohol level seems a lot more sedate than recent vintages. This tastes really lovely; soft, fruity, earthy and complex. There is a bit of dryness on the finish, but fruit is present too so it has a good, long finish. There is also a spicy pepperiness on the finish as well. This is reaching maturity and is really a very enjoyable drop.

Some friends dropped around yesterday and it ended up turning into a dinner party. Sadly all I could offer to eat was soup, that is all I am allowed to eat after my stomach operation, but we drank quite well.

Champagne NV 'White Foil', Pol Roger
This shows a lot of development on the nose, it had clearly had some age on it. Very toasty and bready with real complexity for a non-vintage Champagne. Very fine mousse and good persistence of flavour. Shows it is well worth giving your NV Champagnes a bit of age.

Brunello di Montalcino 1998, Fuligni
Slightly varnish-y character to the nose, but it has a lot of ripe, red fruit. Herbal and a bit medicinal too. The palate has a bit of fruit on the entry, but it dies away to become really rather dried out. The last bottle of this I had about eighteen months ago seemed a lot more charming and fruity. These Brunellos are supposed to age very well, but I find this just a bit too old.

Vosne-Romanee 1997, Rene Engel
A very fruity nose that shows a perfect degree of maturity; the fruit is ripe but soft. There is a good mineral character to the nose as well. The palate is quite delicious, soft fruit, perfectly balanced acidity and not the least bit dried out. 1997 is a very under-rated year, but this shows they can be quite lovely wines.

Geyserville 1997, Ridge
75% Zinfandel in a vineyard blend. The nose of this is extremely alcoholic and worryingly oaky. The oak character is sweet and sickly; American oak. There is some fruit there but it is over-whelmed by the oak and alcohol. The palate is hellishly oaky too. I have had some very lovely old bottles of Geyserville in the past, but this certainly isn't one of them. I would have hoped the oak would be more integrated at this age, but it seems like it'll never go away.

We needed a better wine after the 1996 to keep us jolly into the evening, fortunately I had a bottle of the Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru les Cras 1995 from Ghislaine Barthod in the wine cupboard so we could compare and contrast vintages. It seemed very similar to last time I had it: perfectly ripe with a great purity of fruit making for a very charming bottle of Chambolle. One cannot ask much more than to be drinking charming Chambolle.

I was worried that this would suffer from 1996-syndrome, namely too much acid. It does a bit but is perfectly drinkable.

Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru les Cras 1996, Ghislaine Barthod
Very pure fruit on the nose, soft and perfumed. Doesn't seem very complex, even though it is distinctly Chambolle on the nose. The fruit is good, though. The fruit is good on the palate, too, but there is really not much complexity there and the acid is a touch high. It does have focus and the fruit persists a long time on the finish. It is a perfectly drinkable little Burgundy, but not terribly thrilling. I've got another bottle of this in my cellar which I think I should liberate and drink as this will not be going anywhere.