A round-up of 23 Champagne and sparkling wine top picks to suit every event, occasion and drinker in the 2025–2026 festive season

Welcome to my round-up of 40 white and orange wines for the festive season. Ranging freely across styles, countries, regions, grape varieties and prices, it's designed to cover all tastes, occasions and eventualities from now until Christmas and New Year and then well into 2026

This Rhône-inspired Australian white is pale, bright and crisp, but also has some textural richness. It smells of apricots, freesias and lemons, layered with Russet apple, lime juice and a light touch of toasty oak.

Jurançon Sec is a wine that can smell sweet but taste bone dry and be rich in texture but mouthwateringly tangy. Clos de la Vierge Le Carré de Peés 2023 is all these. It smells of honeyed quinces and zingy lime juice

There are currently some massively tempting supermarket offers on this white wine made from the Verdejo grape in Spain's Rueda region. It's an aromatic dry white with citrus, herb and meadow-flower aromas and a palate combining zippy lime with delicate almond, nutty richness.

If you like trying wines that are off the beaten track, I can't wax too lyrical about this dry white made from low-yielding old vines high up in the arid hills of Manchuela in the Calatayud region in the west of Aragón

This double-trophy winning New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is a wine of flawless verve and harmonious flavors and is a great partner for fish and seafood, vegtables and Thai food

The first wine I ever took to my mythical desert island was a Jurançon Sec and I can confidently say that this one-of-a-kind dry white from the far southwest of France will always have a place. It’s a wine that combines riveting juiciness and tanginess with a waxy rich texture

There aren’t many places in the world where a family-owned and run winery produces wine of this quality at just £6.75, but the Peace family, now into the third generation, is one of Australian wine’s success stories.

You might think from the price that this was one of the bland mass-market Vinhos Verdes, but it’s proper stuff – mouthwateringly fresh with green apple, lemon, lime and leafy green herb notes and a dry, crisp palate with the succulence of a little lees ageing

Gewurztraminer is a difficult wine to get right, especially at a moderate price, but Le Chant des Roses Gewurztraminer gets it exactly right with classic aromas of lychee rose and lokum

If you like Picpoul de Pinet, that zingy, springy dry white from vineyards just inland from the Mediterranean, you’ll love Les Filets Côtes de Thau. And if you like a wine bargain – who doesn’t? – you’ll like it even moreat £8, instead of £10.

This medium-bodied, dry white wine made from Grüner Veltliner in Austria is refreshing enough for hot weather, perfect for watching Wimbledon and versatile with food.

Italy is not most people’s first port of call for Chardonnay, nor perhaps are mountain regions, but up in the Alpine northeast of Italy, in the predominantly white-wine region of Alto Adige/Süd Tirol, Chardonnay vineyards are second only to Pinot Grigio and the wines produced have a captivating purity and freshness.

This delicious, dry Riesling is perfect for sunny, warm weather and mildly spice food

I love dry Semillon with some bottle age made from venerable wines. It combines smooth lanolin texture with citrus intensity and zing

If writers ought to dispense advice only on subjects they have had personal experience of, I am well equipped to advise on wine cellars

It’s rare to see a Saint-Péray wine outside independent merchants and restaurants. There's just not enough of it for mass exposure

This cracking South African Sauvignon Blanc has mouth-watering pea pod and lemon grass aromas, a hint of pepper-spice, and succulent texture

The aromatic Moschofilero grape variety is highly valued in Greece. Taste this aromatic dry white wine and you’ll see why.