Celebration this festive season is going to be all about value. By that, though, I don't necessarily mean cheap wine, but bottles which represent real value for money, whether the budget is sub £10 or higher.
As ever, it's a time when classics come top of most drinkers' wish lists: bordeaux, burgundy, chablis, champagne. You've probably got your own favourite bottles, but how about looking further afield, for similar pleasures from other places?
The rewards of this were brought home at a recent tasting of cabernet sauvignon blends. It wasn't a competitive, my-country's-wine-is-better-than-yours, event. Instead, the growers wanted to show off how the same grapes can temptingly reflect where they're grown and how they're handled.
The journey started, naturally, in Bordeaux but then crossed oceans and continents to Stellenbosch in South Africa, USA's Washington State and the cool eastern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It was the happiest of experiences and proved that classic bordeaux blends can shine world-wide, with individual tweaking – for example, including pinotage – adding extra variety.
It was also so optimistic, most notably the Kiwi experience. Te Mata's Toby Buck spoke of the "silver lining to the terrible climate situation". Cabernet now ripens perfectly on the estate's hot, rain-shadowed land – while a hour's drive south the grapes remain green.
These were all fine wines, with prices reflecting that. But for a treat, they are well worth the money. Burgundians are less fortunate than the Kiwis. Climate extremes have recently hit harvests hard, reducing output and raising prices. If cost is crucial, look instead to Chile, where ever-improving pinot noir and chardonnay come from the cooler valleys – Leyda or Limarí are good sources.
To classic white: if chablis has to be the match with smoked salmon, it needn't be premier or grand cru. Petit chablis – the base of the hierarchy – can be delicious, and some of the best is from vineyards right next to the top plots.
Alternative fine, flinty, fresh chardonnay comes from Tasmania. Or there are wines from other grapes that can offer a similar experience, often when grown on volcanic soils – muscadet, for example, whose crus are much undervalued and age so graciously, soave classico, carricante from the slopes of Mount Etna.
And look to Limoux, high in southern France, for both crisp and richer styles of chardonnay – interestingly, a number of top burgundian names are now producing wines there. I won't get started on fizz... Champagne has so many rivals now, and much bottle-fermented sparkling wine, whatever its origin, is very good. Think English, perhaps, cava or crémant.
Tempting bottles for your Christmas table
For less impact on credit card balances, consider Chile's pinot noir alternatives to red burgundy. Cool coastal breezes in the Leyda valley bring characteristic bright berry and forest floor scents and flavours to 
Exhibition San Julián (£17.50, thewinesociety.com), from the equally cool northern Limarí Valley, adds a smart smoky, savoury edge to ripe yet still fresh fruit. Both are excellent value. On to whites: I love the fine petit chablis from Samuel Billaud but among other excellent examples is Domaine Dampt vieilles vignes 2021 (£16 mix-12, laithwaites.co.uk), properly pure and stony.
And for something entirely different, perhaps a future classic, try Mandarossa Fiano from Sicily (£10.50, thewinesociety.com) – herbal, peachy, citrussy and masses for the money. Also from the Wine Society which offers exceptional value and free delivery, Soave can be mean and boring, or very pricey, but there's a great mid-point in Soave Classico Castel Cerino (£9.95): lovely minerality, clean, long and smart.
Two more temptations are The Society's Vedicchio Classico (£8.50) – pears and lemons, and organic – and the scented, densely flavoured Cantina Puiatti Ribolla Gialla (£9.95). Ribolla gialla also becomes a splendidly frothy, creamy, lemon-edged fizz, Reguta Spumante Extra Dry (£14, mix-12, laithwaites.co.uk). For super-value party fizz, Laithwaites has Albastrele Blanc de Cabernet Brut (£8 in mix six), from Moldova and made entirely from cabernet sauvignon. Quite a talking point!
If you are splashing out for the big day, consider a place where wine has flourished for millennia. Lebanon is slowly re-emerging from its war-torn past, with serious new wineries flourishing. One is Ixsir (from "elixir"), reviving sites favoured since Roman times. Ixsir Grand Reserve £26-£29.50, vinvm.co.uk, bcfw.co.uk, greatwine.co.uk) adds cabernet sauvignon to syrah, dense and spicy-fruited yet elegant, with great ageing potential.
Te Mata Estate Awatea (£31-£32, winedirect.co.uk. tanners-wines.co.uk) is rich and generously aromatic bordeaux-style, with a silky palate and appealing purity and freshness, utterly delicious. Warwick Estate Three Cape Ladies (£13.75, vinvm.co.uk, winedirect.co.uk) spices up the two cabernets with South African USP pinotage to pleasant savoury effect.
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