The Great Wine Regions Series – From Champagne to Port: A Fine Wine Christmas

A Premium Masterclass: The English Christmas Table, Told Through Eight Fine Wines

For our 12-part Great Wine Regions Series, we travel across the Southern Hemisphere to three countries that have transformed the modern wine world: Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

About the Masterclass

Christmas is the one day most households open something better than usual.

This tasting follows the shape of an English Christmas Day exactly: the arrival drink, the starter, the main event and its trimmings, the cheeseboard, and the Stilton-and-Port finale that no other country’s Christmas quite has. Eight wines, poured in that order, each chosen for what it does at that specific point in the meal. We’ll talk through and picture each dish on screen as we go while Stilton is the one dish actually on the table, served alongside the Port at the end.

What to Expect

• Taste 8 fine and mature wines, built around a Vintage Champagne, a mature Bordeaux, an Amarone della Valpolicella, a Rioja Gran Reserva and a Vintage Port
• Follow a full English Christmas Day, one wine per course, from the arrival drink to the cheeseboard
• Taste the Bordeaux and the Amarone side by side against the same course, two entirely different routes to a rich, structured red
• Learn to read tertiary development: dried fruit, leather, forest floor, toast and what causes it
• Understand appassimento and Vintage Port declaration, and why both practices exist to concentrate and structure a wine
• Watch a live decanting demonstration and learn when a wine needs it and when it doesn’t
• Finish with a blind tasting instead of a quiz: one of tonight’s eight wines poured again, unlabelled. Identify it correctly and the bottle is yours

Wines you may try (the final selection will be confirmed nearer the date)

• Vintage Champagne — the arrival. A declared vintage rather than NV, to make the point about why some years get declared and others don’t.
• A fine mature white — a Premier Cru white Burgundy or, more distinctively, an oxidative white Rioja Gran Reserva.
• An off-dry German Riesling Spätlese — to show how a touch of sugar against high acidity handles cranberry sauce and bread sauce better than a bone-dry wine.
• A red Burgundy Pinot Noir — the classic pairing for roast turkey and all the trimmings: enough acidity to cut through gravy and stuffing, soft enough tannin not to fight the meat.
• A mature Bordeaux — Right Bank favoured for its softer tannin, paired with the richer trimmings rather than the bird itself
• An Amarone della Valpolicella, Classico or Riserva, tasted alongside the Bordeaux, not against it.
• A Rioja Gran Reserva — for the cheeseboard.
  A Vintage Port — for the Stilton, and the anchor of the closing pairing.

Who Is This For?

• Wine lovers looking to experience fine and mature wines in a structured tasting
• Anyone wanting to choose better wines for Christmas lunch or dinner
• Guests interested in understanding how food and wine pairing works beyond simple rules
• Fine-wine enthusiasts curious about maturity, bottle development and tertiary aromas
• Fans of Champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Amarone, Rioja and Vintage Port
• Anyone interested in learning more about decanting and serving mature wines
• Curious drinkers wanting an indulgent and memorable tasting experience before Christmas
• No specialist knowledge required — the evening will be detailed and educational while remaining relaxed, engaging and enjoyable

Series Loyalty Bonus

Attending more than one event? Get 10% off your next tasting in the series. Learn more, taste more – spend less.

Event Details

When: Saturday 28th November 2026, 12:30 pm
Where: Loki Wine, Edgbaston
Duration: 3 hours
Tickets: £90 per person
Capacity: Limited to 20 guests

Refunds available up to 30 days before the event. Tickets are transferable up to 14 days before the event. Due to limited capacity, no refunds or transfers within 14 days of the event.