If anyone tells you that Christmas was better in the ‘good old days’, then be sure to ask them if they’d like to travel back to 1647. This was the first year that our short-lived Republic banned Christmas completely as a papist hangover from the days when Catholicism was the official creed of Britain. The 25 December was a working day; eating excessive amounts of protein and carbs was punishable by fines and, naturally – this was Puritanism after all – booze was persona non grata on any kitchen table.

Of course, for some Brits (atheists, the nation’s resident turkey population) the censuring of Christmas would be a wonderful thing indeed. But, if the pleasure principle still wins out over Puritan pedagogy for you, then read on. These are the best Christmas wines and spirits to imbibe from now until the tyranny of Dry January rears its Cromwell-shaped head.

Shed One Gin

Made in Ulverston, the Lake District town also home to Stan Laurel, Shed One eschews the slapstick for the sonorously flavourful in its range of gins, created by husband-and-wife team Andy and Zoe Arnold-Bennett from a former calf shed next to the town’s cattle market. As the word ‘micro-distillery’ becomes as fatuous and meaningless as ‘organic’ and ‘gastropub’, this is the real deal; Shed One gins are made in batches of just 160 bottles. The pick of the range is the YaYa Gin. Infused with juniper (naturally), fig leaves, olive leaves, rose pelargonium, vine leaves, oregano and lemon leaves, it’s as crisp as a forest of new banknotes and a perfect first Christmas day drink before the calorie binge commences in anger.

£38.97, visit masterofmalt.com

John Paul Jones Providence Rum

Nothing whatsoever to do with the bassist from Led Zeppelin, this rum is named after a man whose preferred stage was the naval theatre of war. Known as the ‘scourge of the British’ for his role as a naval commander for the American Continental Navy during the Wars of Independence, John Paul Jones secured an infamous reputation as a ‘household name’ foe; sinking multiple ships and winning countless battles. It should come as no surprise that the pugilistic Jones was born in Scotland. Though it is perhaps more astonishing (and rather rock ‘n’ roll) that he was buried in a coffin filled with rum.

The Providence rum of the JPJ range is a seaweed-infused base spirit using just one former Laphroaig whisky quarter cask (laid down for 18 months) so only 156 numbered bottles are on offer – each one numbered and presented in its own display box. It’s a dorsal blast of toffee, smoke and soil, which seems to hit the perfect middle ground between a rum and a whisky.

£69.90, visit amathusdrinks.com

Masons 10th Anniversary gin

As you’d expect from a Yorkshire gin, flavours are bold and the strength is high octane in this juniper-led 52 per cent ABV cracker, coming straight from Bedale in North Riding. Unlike many tyro gin-makers, Masons claims to never add any flavour that hasn’t been distilled; this 10th-anniversary botanical contains coriander, fresh lime, bay leaf and Szechuan pepper. Though, really, this is all about the juniper without which, lest we forget, we wouldn’t have gin at all.

£45, visit masonsofyorkshire.com

Mas Des Infermieres red wine

So, Ridley Scott has a winery, don’t you know? Of course he does. He’s now 87 years old and the boy from Hartlepool needs somewhere French and verdant to reassure himself that the increasingly Blade Runner-esque outside world can’t disturb him in his dotage. But does the Napoleon director know his cuvée from his clapper board?

The range emerging from his 30 hectares at the foot of the Luberon massif (the clay-limestone soil supports Grenache, Syrah and Clairette) would suggest so. The labels are all designed and drawn by Ridley himself, with the Source Rouge being a particularly assured blend, redolent of a ‘Southern French rustic wearing a crumpled Breton tee’ with its deep, rich crimson colour and a rather wonderfully crunchy bramble fruit finish.  

£26.45, visit themodestmerchant.com

Della Vite Prosecco

Vegan prosecco? In terms of boozy woke-ness, this could easily be a case of overshooting the runway. Yet a trio of fashion sisters (appropriately) – Polly, Chloe and Cara Delevingne – have, thanks to a trip to the wine producers of the upper valleys of Cartizze in Valdobbiadene (head north when you get to Venice and it’s just over that hill at the edge of the Dolomites) created a vegan fizz that is made with the help of solar power and, er, vegan-certified ceramic filters. No. Me neither.

Yet the Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore is way above par for a prosecco. It’s courageously dry and mineral with a hint of croutons and gooseberry. Thank goodness the sisters didn’t decide to have a weekend away in Scarborough…

£22, visit johnlewis.com

Seven Crofts Gin

Much as sitting around in a bathrobe and flipping playing cards into a top hat is a restful way to while away the festive dead hours, greater stimulation can be had with a game of ‘romanticised cartography’. That is, find a remote placename on a map and wonder what life is like there.

Ullapool, on the far northern fringes of the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, is one of those places. The name conjures up images of Highland cattle with a frosting of snow on their horns and tapering lanes that lead into blind glens where mobile phone ‘reception’ is a standing joke among locals.

This is where Seven Crofts gin is made. Dry as a Presbyterian sermon without water, but a lot more fun, this gin is distilled with seven botanicals including pink peppercorn, cubeb and fresh lemon peel. If you thought gin was a drink only for warm weather think again; this bottle suits winter like Jeff Goldblum suits sharp tailoring.

£40, visit highlandliquorcompany.com

Hattingley Valley Kings Cuvée

We’ve concluded our national mourning of the passing of the Queen safe in the knowledge that we won’t have to go through all that again for, ooh, around 15 years. So let’s celebrate with the release of this Kings Cuvée, actually now produced every year (vintage permitting) by the Hattingley Valley winery, based in Hampshire and run by Emma Rice. One of England’s true quality wine pioneers, Rice’s love affair with Bacchus began when, working in a pub kitchen, was told she could she could sample what was left of a double magnum of Krug 1979 ordered by one, clearly ebullient, customer.

Rice claims the Kings Cuvée came about by happenstance when she realised a barrel had been overlooked. Having been on the oak for twice the length of the over vintages, the result was perhaps the first super premium sparkling wine made in England. Lively with citrus, nuts and a tickle of vanilla, this is an English wine with sublime depth and just the right Roman candle-esque sparkle of cream at the finish. If this wine were royalty it wouldn’t be King Charles III, it would be Henry II; hugely capable and impressively capacious in energy and drive.

£85, visit hattingleyvalley.com

Fattoria La Vialla

And so to my winery of the year: Fattoria La Vialla. Antonio Lo Franco, his elder brother Gianni and younger brother Bandino, have carried on the stellar work their parents began in the 1960s in the less fashionable end of Tuscany, close to Arezzo in the Chianti region of Colli Aretini. What the brothers make is biodynamic wine that actually takes the term seriously; wine that, rather than the usual ‘adequate, but at least it's woke’, ups the ante to genuinely sensational. Whether you care about the BD prefix, or not.

In addition to the 120 hectares that make up their home, the brothers now have another 250 hectares split between San Gimignano, Maremma, Oltrepò Pavese, Marche, Puglia and Sicily. The brother’s pecorino cheese (also for sale online) is rubbed in their olive press, making for an unctuous, sun-streaked taste. But, most importantly, the wines are, to a bottle, sensual, homely creations. There’s still the whiff of the family farmyard in the handwritten labelling in the best possible way.

Every La Vialla wine I have tasted impressed me, but the two I’ll be ordering again first are the 45 Metodo Classico Millesimato D.O.C.G. 2014 – a 100 per cent Pinot Noir with a beautifully dry and mellow, toasted finish – and the juicy, sweet, fruit-accented Casa Conforto Chianti Superiore 2020. You have to buy a minimum of half-a-dozen bottles, which often works out at less than £10 each. You could scarcely spend it better.

From £8.90 per bottle, visit lavialla.com

Read more: The best champagne and sparkling wine for Christmas