Have you already got a special date pencilled into the new diary?

Maybe an engagement or is that big birthday is looming ever closer? Whether it’s an anniversary, reunion, next Christmas or just a long awaited get-together with friends, we will all be making plans for the future as we open our new diaries and calendars this January.

And one of the questions that comes to mind is – which wine should I choose to make the occasion extra-special. We would suggest you put a couple of special bottles away for sharing when the big day comes round and we want to give you a bit of help to choose those bottles:

For keeping up to a year.

Chablis 2014 is turning out to be a rather fine year for white Burgundy. The wines have crisp, vibrant acidity coupled with great intensity of fruit. Given a year’s ageing the wine will mellow just enough to retain their structure but gain an added dimension of elegance and texture.

Domaine Gueguen Chablis 2014

Bottle Price: £14.95 / €21.50 Case Bottle Price: £13.46 / €19.35

Nathalie & Giles Fevre Chablis 2014

Bottle Price: £15.95 / €22.99 Case Bottle Price: £14.36 / €20.69

For keeping 2-3 years

Cote Rotie is often out of most people’s price ranges but this well-made example is well worth the money coming as it does from one of the region’s most respected growers and from a vintage that is already showing very well in its youth. By 2017 this Northern Rhone classic will have rounded out to a silky, spicy and poised red wine. The oak will have integrated and will lend texture and depth, without diminishing the delightful aromatics brought to the wine by the 5% Viognier.

Cote Rotie Champin Le Seigneur 2012

Bottle Price: £35.95 / €49.99 Case Bottle Price: £32.36 / €44.99

For keeping 5 years plus

2010 was a magnificent vintage in Bordeaux and one which will outlive most of us. Put a bottle of this mighty wine away for 5 years and it will reward you with a wonderful spectrum of complex flavours. Produced from 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, it is typical of the solid, masculine Pauillac style; yet in this vintage it has a lively, spicy quality and rich, expressive notes of coffee and tobacco. By 2019 the tannins will have softened somewhat, retaining the wine’s structure but making it more approachable and balanced.

Batailley 2010

Bottle Price: £44.99 / €58.00 Case Bottle Price: £40.49 / €52.20