40ml white port • 25ml gin • 10ml fresh lime juice • Good quality tonic water, to top

Method: Combine the port, gin and lime juice in a highball glass filled with ice cubes and stir until chilled. Top with tonic water and garnish.

Garnish: Fresh bay leaf

Glass: Highball, Toyo Sasaki's casts a sleek silhouette

40ml rhubarb gin • 20ml freshly squeezed lemon juice • 12.5ml sugar syrup • Chilled sparkling rosé, to top

Method: Combine everything but the sparkling rosé in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until well mixed. Strain into a champagne flute and top with chilled sparkling rosé to taste. Garnish.

Garnish: Rhubarb ribbons or lemon peel

Glass: Champagne flute, Riedel’s is a tender-stemmed delight

25ml Campari • 12.5ml Martini Rosso • 10ml Antica Formula, or any sweet red vermouth • 25ml chilled lambrusco, or any Italian sparkling wine, such as prosecco, to top

Method: Fill a mixing glass with ice and add the Campari, Martini Rosso and Antica Formula. Stir and strain into a tumbler; top with lambrusco. Twist orange peel over the glass to release aromatic oils.

Garnish: Orange twist

Glass: Tumbler, ours is from Shotoku Usuhari

40ml bourbon • 25ml Campari • 25ml sweet red vermouth or, for a fruity twist, cherry liqueur

Method: Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing glass and the strain into a chilled glass. Garnish.

Garnish: Orange slice, lemon twist or cocktail cherry

Glass: Tumbler by J Hill’s Standard

Use one large ice cube: smaller cubes melt quicker and add more water to the drink

Notes: Fresh, light, aromatic, delicious; South Africa at its understated best.
Cost: About €10

Notes: Dry, fruity, round: this is the grape that those in the know are supping.
Cost: About €25

Notes: One of the great white Burgundies by one of Burgundy’s best.
Cost: About €65

Notes: Just like Christmas itself: big, fruity and deeply satisfying.
Cost: About €15

Notes: A storied rioja-producer with a wine that’s more elegant than assertive.
Cost: About €35

Notes: Deep, dark, smoky and a star of the southern Rhône.
Cost: About €80

Notes: Dry, crisp, long-lasting (thank the small bubbles) and a favourite of Winston Churchill.
Cost: About €60

Notes: The rosé for those who think the pink stuff is beneath them.
Cost: About €30