Simon Hoggart

We passed Christmas in Kenya, on the beach. I’d spent Christmas abroad before but never...  

We passed Christmas in Kenya, on the beach. I’d spent Christmas abroad before but never in a hot country, and it took time to get used to — perhaps 20 seconds. Up late in the morning, open stockings in bed, pull on swimming trunks, descend for alfresco breakfast of mango, paw-paw and passion fruit, plus tiny sweet bananas.

Then, after swimming, a walk along the beach and a snooze in the sun, it was time for the traditional Christmas dinner – hot roast turkey, roast potatoes, sprouts, bacon rolls, and of course a flaming Christmas pudding, all in temperatures over 30 degrees, or nearly 90 degrees in old money.

Luckily the white wine was cold. I had made careful arrangements, ordering three cases to be sent out BFPO: one of the friends who joined us is a serving officer. Sadly, the cases of Rioja and Viognier, delicious glugging wines from our ‘From Vineyards Direct’ offer last year, did not turn up — victims of the UK weather, we assume. But the case from Corney & Barrow made it through, so we could enjoy chilled white Burgundy, generic but good enough to be labelled, I thought, as Saint-Aubin (from Olivier Leflaive). And a powerful yet smooth Aussie Shiraz called Mad Dog, which had that eucalyptus tang many Australian wines pick up.

So I am grateful to C&B and delighted that they are providing this offer. It includes some excellent daily drinking bottles for your post-Yule restocking, plus a couple of brilliant French classics. The Brett-Smith Indulgence applies — a £6 per case discount if you buy three cases (or just two if delivery is within the M25) — and all selections are discounted.

As always, we are offering the celebrated C&B house wines, the white (1) lemony and fresh, the red (5) plump and full of fruit. They both cost £5.81, which makes them perfect for everyday, and for adding to your order so as to trigger the Indulgence.

Our cheap and cheerful white is a delicious lively and fruit-filled Spanish wine from three different grapes, a Viña Garedo from the Yllera family 2009 (2) coming in at under £8. It’s a perfect wine to evoke thoughts of warmer days, and a real delight.

New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs get better and better, blending the flintiness of Sancerre with the juiciness of the Kiwi style. The Eradus 2009 (3) from Marlborough is a superb example of what they can do these days, lovely as an aperitif or a party wine, perfect with almost any food. Reduced to £10.67.

I have mentioned before the Mâcon-Verzé made by Domaines Leflaive. Mâcon is in southern Burgundy, and thanks to growers like Madame Anne-Claude Leflaive, is catching up with the more famous names to the north. This 2007 (4) has the perfumed flavour of a fine Burgundy, plus a kind of open, in-your-face zestiness which I enjoy hugely. It’s also very smooth. The kind of wine that makes you feel in confident, capable hands.

Now the reds: the Mas Oliveras Tempranillo from the Bodegas Roqueta 2009 (6) is just over £6, and is a soft, plump, gorgeous slugging-back wine from Catalonia. Not only is it terrific drinking now — lively yet velvety — but it can be kept and will go on improving for a good two years at least. Pretty amazing value.

We haven’t offered a Côtes-du-Rhône for a while, partly because I’ve been waiting for a really good one to turn up. Now it has. The Gonnet 2008 (7) has all the qualities you should expect — richness, fleshiness, herbs and spices‚ at under £9. This vineyard really has created a wine of great depth and ­quality: great value for Rhône fans who want a wine they can afford to drink every day.

Finally, claret lovers are going to adore the ­Château Barrail du Blanc Grand Cru 2007 (8), which comes from a tiny parcel of land in Saint-Emilion. It is all Merlot, and has that gentle, light, aromatic, smoky, cedary air we associate with that appellation. A treat, reduced to £15.52.

Delivery, as ever, is free, and there’s a sample case. Don’t forget the Indulgence!