Christmas is almost upon us, and for Spectator readers this always brings the magic of...  

Christmas is almost upon us, and for Spectator readers this always brings the magic of the Brett-Smith Indulgence, the enchanting scheme by which you can get £6 a case off your purchases from Corney & Barrow. Some people do not believe in the Indulgence, and pooh-pooh it: ‘How could one man, on his own, save so many people so much money?’ But we know it really does exist! And the £6 saving applies to each case if you buy three, or only two if you live within the M25. (One of these days road repairers on the M25 will order a few cases for their works Christmas bash, and a mighty argument will follow.)

There are 13 wines in this extra-large offer, and all of them can be ordered by the case. But there are also two mixed cases, one of glugging wine and one luxury selection. Between them they should have your Christmas celebrations well covered.

C&B’s house wines hardly need introducing to happy readers. The white (1) from the increasingly impressive Plaimont Co-op, is lemony and grassy and perky, and altogether delicious as a pre-meal sharpener, or with the food itself. It is also the best-selling white among Corney’s own staff. The red (9) is soft and velvety and very satisfying on the coming cold nights. Lots of people find this is a good way of beefing up their order so as to attract the Indulgence, while acquiring quantities of a more than serviceable drinking wine.

The Fiano from Masseria Bianca 2010 (2) is an unusual wine, but a very nice one. Fiano is a very old grape, used by the Romans, and one that has in later years been rediscovered. With its intense floral flavours it’s being grown increasingly in the New World where they like a grape with a bit of flavour and character. This is made in Puglia, the long heel of Italy, and the vineyards are just four miles from the Ionian sea, cooling down some of those baking temperatures. At £7.59 it is tremendous value.

As is the Mont de Joie Sauvignon Blanc 2010 (3) from the Loire. You could — just about — knock a golf ball from there into the Sancerre appellation where the wines would cost you a good £3 or £4 a bottle more. The competition in Sauvignon is ferocious these days, with the French trying to create a fruitier, fuller wine, and the New Zealanders striving for some of the steel and finesse you find in northern France. I enjoyed this a lot, and if you want all the elegance of a Sancerre with the ripeness of a Kiwi, then you’ll like this — especially at the generous £9.49 price.

Now a delicious wine which you might not have heard of, but will certainly like. Albariño is very much the leading white grape in Spain, and while other nations have tried to grow it successfully, none has managed. It’s delicious: flavours of vanilla, peach and brioche will swirl around in your glass, with a subtle, heady perfume, enhanced by the touch of Viognier added to the mix. Perfect with Spanish food, but who cooks Spanish food at home — at least outside Spain? I can imagine it, though, with some gorgeous cured ham, a little hard cheese, and maybe the occasional artichoke. Veigadares Albariño Adegas Galegas 2008 (4), reduced to £14.73, and worth every penny.

All those three wines are included in the glugging case, where you will also find the delightful Sylvoz Prosecco Le Colture Brut NV from Treviso (7). With the price of champagne so high, prosecco is becoming increasingly popular, though sometimes you can buy some pretty shoddy stuff, thin on flavour, tasting a little like fizzy water. Not this. It’s bone dry, but it does have real flavour. It may be too good to go into kir royale, although a habit we picked up in France this year involves adding the tiniest dash of violette — alcoholic or not — into a glass, and topping up with fizz, which gives you the experience of drinking a glorious flowerbed. Anyhow, the Prosecco on its own makes a terrific party wine. Reduced to £10.44.

Naturally we have an echt champagne as well, which appears in the luxury case. This is the Marquis de Bonnières Brut NV (8) made in Epernay by one of the smaller houses. (Which are where French people tend to buy their own champagne.) It’s sprightly, creamy, and every bit as good as some of the grandes marques.

Two more luxury wines, one classic, the other not yet classic but nevertheless fascinating. The Carmel Road Chardonnay 2009 (5) is, of course, from California. It is a stunning wine, a sort of lubricious nectar, packed with fruit and just a hint of coconut. It tastes a little like a piña colada cocktail, which makes it sound awful, but it ain’t. It’s rich and exotic, quite unlike any wine I’ve had in a long time. A really gorgeous sipper, ideal with fresh fruit, or a creamy paté. It is different, and you might not want to risk a whole dozen, but get it in the sample case and you’ll soon be ordering more.

Many of our readers need no introduction to the Mâcon-Verzé from Domaine Leflaive 2008 (6). Grapes from the once cheaper end of Burgundy are turned into wine in Puligny-Montrachet by the Leflaives, possibly the best known family in the region. They were determined to show that they could make a great bottle from this sometimes overlooked area, and they’ve created a very stylish wine indeed. Reduced to £18.71.

Now the reds. The glugging case contains two delicious wines at very reasonable prices, the first being a Merlot from the Domaine de St Estève 2010 (10). I have banged on to the point of boredom about how southern France is producing wonderful value wines, and this is one — smooth, gentle, velvety, just right for day-to-day drinking, but also perfect with food. Reduced to £6.64.

Now proof that the Argentinians are not only great with Malbec. The Dominio de Toyo 2010 (11), a Cabernet/Shiraz from the Famatina Valley, is quite superb. A proud wine, if that isn’t a stereotypical notion about a Latin bottle. It is excellent now, but unlike most wines at £6.93 it will go on improving for quite some time. You could easily decant this and tell your friends it is a first-rate claret.

Or you could buy a first-rate claret. The Ch. de Lamarque 2007 (12) from the Haut Médoc is one of the best I’ve enjoyed for a long time. None of the astringent woodiness you sometimes get with red Bordeaux — just a lovely, glossy, oaky, warm richness. Reduced to £17.57, and well worth it.

Finally, C&B’s own Pomerol (13) is made from grapes used in some of the finest and most expensive wines in the world. All the great chateaux grow more grapes than they are allowed to sell under their own names, and are obliged to make the superfluity into the best wine they can, which is then sold under a generic label. I can’t tell you — because I don’t know — exactly what goes into this Pomerol, but it does include grapes from Pétrus and La Fleur-Pétrus. There is nothing more I need to add.

Delivery, as always, is free. The glugging case contains the less expensive wines, and the luxury case the pricier.