IT'S December so it's perhaps maybe just about okay to start thinking about Christmas. Or rather, it's okay to try a few wines to see what might suit our planned festivities.

Starting with sparklers, one we shouldn't ignore is the Sainsbury's Winemakers’ Selection Blanc de Blancs Brut NV Champagne.

This fun-filled fizz has recently been named the "Best Buy" Champagne among supermarket own brands by Which? magazine.

Made by iconic champagne house Duval-Leroy using 100 per cent Chardonnay grapes, it's not the dirt-cheapest around but offers quality and certainly value for money at just £20, some £10 cheaper than the highest-scoring branded Champagne during Which? experts' blind taste testing.

Elegant and rich, with a buttery character, this is a standout sparkler in that price bracket.

Oh, and if you're quick there's chance for a discount too - Sainsbury's main stores are offering 25 per cent off if buying six or more bottles of wine this weekend (the offer runs out tomorrow).

If you want to try something fizzy but something different, maybe consider the Sparkling Angel, made by Viña Montes.

This column has written about the family Montes before, winemakers who have feet in Argentinian and Chilean camps either side of the Andes.

This Sparkling Angel hails from their coastal vineyard at Zapallar, Chile, four or five miles from the Pacific Ocean, and is made from 70 per cent Pinot Noir and 30 per cent Chardonnay.

It is the first sparkling, Champers-like wine in their portfolio and that maybe tells, with a sharpness and forwardness not found in perhaps more refined tipples as developed over generations, but that is not a bad thing if you like it. It at least makes it interesting.

"Sea breezes balance the wine's natural richness with refreshing acidity," the label tells us.

It's brut in style and is made using traditional Champenoise methods, although the wine spends 36 months on the lees, more than many Champagnes.

The bubbles are long-lasting and there are notes of walnut, dried fruit, and toasted breadcrumbs.

“Sparkling Angel is the result of a great team effort at the winery,” says Aurelio Montes Sr about their creation. “The grapes from Zapallar give great elegance and varietal character, which together with three years on the lees results in a wine of real finesse."

It's available for £15.99 at Oddbins.

If that's a Champagne-a-like, then how about a Port-a-like.

There's an excellent example among The Wine Society's Christmas suggestions - Bleasdale's The Wise One ten-year-old tawny, made from Verdehlo in old wooden vats in the Langhorne Creek, in Australia.

Given it doesn't therefore hail from Portugal's Douro Valley, it cannot on these shores by classed as a Port, but it does compare well, with its rich sweet body, plenty of dried fruit character and a mocha note on the finish.

It's available for £9.95 from The Wine Society. Have it by the fire on its own or with cheese while going through the Radio Times circling the films you'll be watching this Yuletide.