What Our Buyers Are Drinking This Christmas
by the Jeroboams Buying Team
Published 15th December 2025
What to serve on Christmas Day is a big decision for any wine lover, and even more so for a buying professional. Our Buying team share which bottles they'll be opening for Christmas, including the one fizz they all have chosen...
Maggie MacPherson, Group Buyer
I’m with the in-laws this year and thankfully they have excellent taste in wine, and also enjoy Chardonnay (phew!). So I’ve got a few bottles of Marine Layer Aries Chardonnay already packed to take with me. A buttery yet mouthwatering little number that works with the Christmas Eve seafood extravaganza, the main event turkey and the VERY IMPORTANT Boxing Day leftover sandwiches, so a case is required at the very least!
Peter Mitchell MW, Wine Director
I'll be ordering some 2022 Barbera d’Alba Ferrione from Diego Conterno – this is a wine so full of joy, but also hiding a serious side as well. Exuberant juicy, cherry fruit bursts from the glass, with plenty of body and acidity to back this up. It’s huge versatility at the table makes it my pick for Christmas Day.
Martin Tickle, Fine Wine Buyer
I’ll be drinking 2022 Ornus dell’Ornellaia this Christmas — the sweet wine from Ornellaia. It’s a half-bottle of tiny-production Tuscan 100% Petit Manseng that lives in the refrigerator door, quietly radiating a sort of festive zen and reliably getting me through the big day. It’s pleasingly Christmassy in its candied-peel fruit, tangerine spray, and gentle ginger notes; opulent but never cloying.
A small sip mid-morning whilst whispering encouragement to the gravy is advisable. Later, you’ll find me in the garden with a somewhat larger top-up, ostensibly checking the recycling bins but in truth enjoying a crafty cigar with the wine and a few moments of calm. If the family wonder why I come back in a better mood, it’s because Petit Manseng and Partagás work faster than meditation.
Dr James Phillips, Spirits & Wine Buyer
This Christmas I'll be passing the family drams of the fantastic Wire Works Bourbon Barrel Single Malt English Whisky. Over the festive period a wee whisky can often feel like an indulgence too far, especially drams matured in Sherry casks that can quite literally taste of Christmas pudding.
Wire Works Bourbon Barrel combines a lovely richness of sweet vanilla, chocolate and nuts with a lemon curd-like brightness that leaves the palate feeling refreshed and satisfied. A supremely tasty whisky.
And the one fizz we will all be opening...
It’s a Christmas miracle when all the buyers can agree on one wine! It’s like asking parents to choose their favourite child (it's always the dog, the dog is the best child always). So it’s not Christmas without fizz and this year we’ve all gone for the Daniel Moreau Blanc de Blancs! Fabulous apple notes, with the all important buttery biscuit notes. It’s a no brainer that’ll work from the first day of Christmas (decorating the tree) up until the bells go on New Year's Eve!
