Colomban Muscat de Saint-Jean de Minervois

If you’re a fan of dessert wines here’s an absolutely cracking bargain from Lidl’s latest limited edition release which went on sale on Thursday.

It’s an award-winning* Muscat de Saint Jean de Minervois from the Languedoc for just £5.99 a 50cl bottle which is plenty for 4 and could even stretch to 6.

Although it doesn’t have a vintage on the label it’s beautifully light and fresh with a lovely apricot fruit flavour. Perfect now with in-season apple and pear tarts but at this price it would be worth laying in a couple of bottles for Christmas.

Another wine you might enjoy is a fresh-tasting Touraine Sauvignon Blanc from the 2016 vintage which compares favourably to some of the Sancerres I’ve tasted recently. (2016 wasn’t a fantastic vintage in the Loire but at £6.49 this is an decent buy)

Look out for my Guardian column next weekend for my pick of the Lidl reds

* a silver medal from the Concours General Agricole

Pillitteri Cabernet Sauvignon icewine

One of the Christmas bargains last year was a Pillitteri vidal icewine which Lidl was managing to sell for an astonishing £14.99 a half bottle, probably cheaper than you could find it from its country of origin, Canada.

My friend Jenny scoured all the branches in Bristol for weeks to pick up every available bottle.

This year they’ve added a cabernet sauvignon ice wine at £15.99 to their Christmas range which is, if anything, even more appealing - a pale dusky pink which tastes of rose petals and would be a fantastic match for a box of milk chocolates or a milk chocolate dessert. I say milk because I think it would show off its delicate flavours better than dark chocolate. A few raspberries on the plate wouldn’t go amiss.

The range went on sale last Thursday so I’d pop into Lidl and snap up enough to last you not only through Christmas but Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Easter as well*. If you can keep your hands off it until then! With its elegant bottle and box it would also make a lovely gift.

* There's also a £4 off if you buy 4 bottles deal at the time of writing. The Monbazillac and Tokaji Szamorodni are also worth buying at £6.99 if you have a sweet tooth.

Taylor’s Chip Dry White Port

Gin isn’t the only drink you can serve with tonic and this is the perfect time of year to try a delicious alternative: white port. Which, as I’m sure you know, comes from the Douro region of Portugal.

At 20% rather than 40%, it's lighter (and sweeter) than gin so you need rather more of it - about 40/60 I’d say (although the Taylor’s website recommends 1/3 to 2/3). Simply pour both drinks into a tumblerful of ice, stir and top with a slice of lemon and a sprig of mint. Simple and incredibly refreshing.

You can find it on special offer at Ocado at the moment for £10.63 instead of £13.29 which is the price Waitrose is currently charging but that still compares well with other stockists who are typically listing it for between £15 and £16.

Although it’s a drink you’d have Portuguese-style as an aperitif it’s also a great match with melon and ham.

Berry Bros & Rudd Marsala Vergine Riserva 1988

I’ve been getting a fair amount of flak recently - can you BELIEVE it? - for recommending wines that are too cheap so this bottle at £62 for 50cl should satisfy those of you who are itching to splash the cash

Mind you even I’d be tempted*. It’s the most extraordinary marsala I’ve ever tasted - made by the legendary Sicilian producer Marco di Bartoli but under the Berry Bros & Rudd label rather than his own name which would have made it even more expensive.

You can smell the wine on drawing the cork. There’s an explosion of dried fruit aromas - raisins, figs, dried orange - especially clementine - and a touch of roasted almonds - it changes with every sip. Most people think of marsala as sweet but this is super-dry with a glorious acidity. Think a very old madeira but less woody.

'Vergine', for those who are wondering, is a fortified wine "left unadulterated and pure by the lack of any added mistella (mix) of cooked must" according to the helpful notes on the BBR website.

It’s the perfect present for the person who has too much wine (in other words, most of the wine trade.) Just a small bottle with which to escape the throng and savour privately over Christmas. Maybe with a little nibble of cheese or some biscotti but it’s just lovely on its own.

* Disclosure. That means they sent it to me as a sample, cunningly knowing I wouldn't be able to resist writing about it. You wouldn't either.