Steven Spurrier’s Christmas cellar vintage guide

If you're wondering what wines you should be getting out of your cellar this Christmas, look no further, as Steven Spurrier tells Decanter the best vintages of Burgundy, Bordeaux and Rhone that are perfect to drink this festive season.

Steven Spurrier’s Christmas cellar vintage guide: Burgundy

Burgundy

Fiona Beckett’s tasting (in the January 2012 Decanter issue) came up with white Burgundy as the best match for Christmas turkey. I tend to cellar white Burgundies, except for the Mâconnais, and am now finishing my 2004 Chablis (mostly 1er cru), moving on to 2005/6/7 next year.

From the Côte de Beaune: the 2002 whites are still lovely; 2004 very expressive; 2005 riper and broader; 2006 seductively ready; 2007 with more depth; 2008 tighter and more elegant, not ready yet.

For reds: 1990 and 1995 are wonderfully mature; 1996 never, for me, lost its leanness; 1997 (supple, fruity), 1998 (firm structure), 1999 (super classic) represent a classy trio; 2000 is still holding up; 2001 nicely concentrated; 2002 a ripe vintage and good now; the non-acidified 2003s are wonderful; 2004 lacks flesh; 2005 needs time; and 2006 and 2007 are opening up well.

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Decanter’s consultant editor Steven Spurrier joined the wine trade in London in 1964 and later moved to Paris where he bought a wine shop in 1971, and then opened L’Academie du Vin, France’s first private wine school in 1973. Spurrier staged the historic 1976 blind tasting between wines from California and France, the Judgment of Paris, and in the 1980s he wrote several wine books and created the Christie’s Wine Course with then senior wine director Michael Broadbent, a veteran Decanter columnist. In 1988 Spurrier returned to the UK to focus on writing and consultancy, with his clients including Singapore Airlines. He has won several awards, including Le Personalité de l’Année (oenology) 1988 for services to French wine and the Maestro Award in honour of California wine legend André Tchelistcheff (2011) and is president of the Circle of Wine Writers as well as founding the Wine Society of India. He also produced his own wine, Bride Valley Brut, from his vines in Dorset.