So after the excitement of Santa visiting – evidenced on Christmas morning by an empty port glass by the fireplace and our eldest two’s eyes like side-plates – it was all hands on deck for the traditional glutton-fest of Christmas dinner.

I’ve always been a wine-with-food person so the day’s wine menu had been planned with almost as much precision as the 37 accompaniments to the turkey.

We kicked off around noon with a Pink Champagne, the perfect aperitif for a family occasion given the celebratory associations and the accessible, fruitier style of the bán-dearg variety.

For our seafood starter, we tried a Macon-Uchizy from M&S – buttery, citrusy Chardonnay, with just enough oak to complement the smokiness of the fish but good fruit concentration to bring out the sweetness of the prawns.

The Christmas roast is often cited as an impossible meal to match wine with, given the range and depth of flavours from the piled-high meats, veg and sauces, but I think we nailed it with the New Zealand Pinot Noir we’d been banging on about. The perfect balance of sweet fruit, tight acidity and soft tannins, it was truly heavenly.

After teas and espressos came dessert, and a special import from Matt’s travels in New Zealand at the start of the year – Siefried Riesling Ice Wine from Nelson. For me, ice wine is the ultimate wine indulgence – nothing compares to the incredible concentration of flavour and character, and this was a smashing example, proving once again the humbling nobility of Riesling, as well as the restless quality and invention from the Kiwis.

Later, and finally, as the day drew to a close and three exhausted kids hit the hay, we indulged ourselves in a big flavour red, the 2005 Glaetzer Amon-Ra. This was one we were very happy to enjoy without food – absolutely crammed with flavour and depth but incredible silky smoothness in a wine so young.

Five intriguingly different but appropriately special wines, and between eight of us over 8 or 9 hours, a little Christmas indulgence but far from debauchery. And sure, if you can’t spoil yourselves at Christmas…