You don’t have to wait until Christmas to enjoy Port, sweet wines or sherries, and here are some to try

It is our neighbourhood Christmas lights switch-on tonight.
A tiny glass of sweet wine is perfect with dessert.A tiny glass of sweet wine is perfect with dessert.
A tiny glass of sweet wine is perfect with dessert.

We have never done this before but ever since a really organised lady moved in down the road, we have had a summer party, a bulb-planting weekend and now the Christmas lights. After many years of being just on nodding terms with neighbours, we are in danger of becoming a community.

And it is rather nice. I have been delving into the back of a cupboard to unearth my stock of Madeira which will go remarkably well with the mince pies that the chap next door is bringing. Someone else is firing up a barbecue on their driveway so there will be hotdogs and burgers and just in case it rains, a gazebo has gone up on the neighbouring driveway.

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If you are planning your own neighbourhood get-together, on your driveway, in a breezy barn or even in your house, here are a few suggestions of what to pour to keep tonsils and toes warm and cosy.

Quinta de Vargellas makes glorious portsQuinta de Vargellas makes glorious ports
Quinta de Vargellas makes glorious ports

Madeira

The important thing to remember with Madeira is never tell anyone what it is before you give it to them. There will always be someone who goes through the usual, “Have some Madeira, m’dear” routine, which deflects everyone’s interest away from what is in the glass. Just offer them a mince pie, or a slice of fruit cake and cheese, and say: “Try this.” Very few will refuse, and a few may sniff it suspiciously, but I suspect they will like its dark raisiny fruit, dried orange peel, walnuts, figs and cinnamon spice.

Madeira is generally described by grape varieties Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey, which also represent a gradual increase in sweetness levels. Sweet versions may be described as rich.

Henriques & Henriques 3-year old Full Rich Madeira 50cl, Majestic, £11.99, down to £9.99 on a mix-six deal: A great value introduction to this gorgeous wine. Try it with mince pies or fruit cake, or even with a chocolate pud.

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Henriques & Henriques 10-Year-Old Sercial Madeira 50cl, Waitrose, £19.99: Sercial is a dry style of Madeira, with walnuts, apricot fruit and vibrant, fresh acidity. Serve chilled as an aperitif with crab and smoked salmon canapés.

Blandy’s 15-year-old Bual Madeira 50cl, Waitrose £24.99: Gloriously complex with nutty, complex figgy flavours, kept on edge by clean citrus acidity and a fabulous length. Perfect with a slice of fruitcake.

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Port

If you still have a bottle from last Christmas, lurking dustily at the back of the cupboard, now is the time to put it out of its misery. It will have lost some of the delicious fruit it had last year but if you put it by your hob, it will be fine to add flavour to every stew and jug of gravy you make between now and Christmas.

Now buy another bottle and maybe change your mindset about when to drink it. Port is not just for after-dinner drinking. Reach for a small glass of ruby port after a brisk walk with the dog, while tawny port is more of an afternoon sipper best accompanied by a piece of cake or a few nuts. A late bottled port is one for after dinner, perhaps with cheese or chocolate, and if there are several port drinkers around the table, this is the time to pull the cork on a bottle of vintage port.

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Don’t wait for Christmas Day to open a bottle of port, open it now and enjoy it over the next few weeks.

Tesco Finest 10-year-old Tawny Port, £12: Smooth and elegant with apricot, hazelnut, raisins and a hint of orange peel making this a perfect wine to team with crème brulée, tarte tatin or just a slab of fruit cake. Serve slightly chilled.

Niepoort LBV Port 2015, Harrogate Wine, £22.99: From a family-run port house, this wine expands across the palate with ripe damson fruit touched with cinnamon, orange peel and coffee. Fabulous flavour for money.

Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas Vintage Port 2012, Waitrose, down from £31.99 to £25.99 until January 2: From one of the finest properties in the Douro, I gave it top marks in a recent tasting, for its complex, silky, bramble and mulberry flavours.

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Vintage port throws a deposit in the bottle so stand it upright for 24 hours before opening and decant it. The most knowledgeable port person I have come across always strained vintage port from bottle to decanter through a (new) pop sock. It works perfectly.

Sherry

Sherry has reinvented itself in recent years, focusing on quality while keeping prices down.

Avoid the ones described as cream or medium-sweet and head for manzanillas, finos, palo cortados, amontillados and olorosos from producers such as Lustau, Hidalgo and Fernando de Castilla.

Hidalgo La Gitan a Manzanilla 50cl, Sainsbury’s, £8: These crisp, citrus and sea-salt flavours are perfect as an aperitif with a few salted almonds and a slice of jamón. Keep in the fridge at all times and finish the bottle within a couple of weeks to enjoy those flavours at their freshest.

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The Best Palo Cortado, Lustau, 37.5cl. Morrisons, £6.25: This multi-award-winning sherry shone at Morrison’s recent tasting for its bone-dry style, layered with nuts, prunes and orange zest. Palo Cortado starts out as a fino sherry but then is aged like an oloroso, which gives it freshness along with complexity. Try it with cheese or savoury risottos.

Dessert wines

A thimbleful of nectar-sweet wine is perfect with or instead of a dessert. In recent tastings these came out top.

Specially Selected Sauternes 2016, Aldi, £7.49 for 37.5cl: From a top-class Bordeaux château, this has aromatic apricot and candied orange notes, with honey balanced by fresh, bright acidity. You could team this with a pud, but it is a dessert all on its own.

The Best Botrytis Semillon 2017, Australia, 37.5cl, Morrisons, down from £7.25 to £6 until January 1: Flavours of orange marmalade, apricot and lemon rind, balanced by clean, zesty acidity. It goes well with all kinds of desserts, particularly apricot and mango-based puds.