'Winter is the most special time of the year for fans of gastronomy. Rich, tasty foods, plenty of opportunities to host dinner parties and so many different selections in both food and wine to choose from.

Dinner parties are the time to impress your friends with both your culinary skills and your knowledge of how to get the most out of each course of food. Flavour matching is all important when handling several courses and the key is to build up to a crescendo. Please don't become tangled in old fashioned rules that tell you red wine has to go with red meat and also has to follow white by the way and don't be afraid to refer your dinner guests to this column should you veer off the traditional track.

I like to start off with an aperitif wine, preferably a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand or a crisp Chenin from South Africa. If you're guests have a sweeter palate, try a Gewurztraminer or Riesling from either Germany or Australia. As with the Sauvignon and Chenin, the better versions of the latter selections balance their sweetness with a bit of acidity which you'll feel around your teeth and gums. The acidity is vital to make your mouth water and to tell your body the whole gastronomic experience is about to start. It also serves as a palate cleanser to chase away the traces of the first course before you start the second.

The main course is usually the most opulent and the one you want people to remember so please don't spoil all your hard work by skimping on the wine although the one rule you should always follow is never to overpower the food. Wine is a companion to food and should never be the foremost flavour.

Following on my mantra of keep it simple and keep it classy, why not try Oak Smoked Salmon for a starter course. Sometimes, smoked salmon or smoked meats are too pungent for me but Oak Smoking imparts a gentle, mellow flavour to the fish and served nice and simply alongside a decoration of cucumber slices with a light rosemary olive oil dressing as an option it makes the perfect introduction to dinner. My preferred companion wine would be a crisp Sauvignon, preferably from Chile as they tend to have a little less bite than the New Zealand versions or a delightfully clean Chenin from South Africa. Perfect examples would be Casa La Joya Sauvignon from Chile at £7.50 per bottle or the wonderful Boland Chenin at £7.99 from the Cape.

Oak Smoked Salmon also lends itself well in canapés served on anything from triangles of toast to more complicated bases such as filo pastry. Most of us are going to have our fill of turkey in the week around Christmas so I always steer clear of suggesting that as a main course at this time of the year, preferring Lamb or something more locally exotic such as deer. We are truly spoiled for choice in Cumbria for the latter two selections and of course knowing exactly where the meat has come from makes it even more special. Wasdale Head Farm do a fabulous line in Herdwick Lamb and one of the beauties of this meat is that it displays richer, broader flavours than the cuts taken from factory abattoirs and shipped frozen halfway around the world. Lamb is always served well by a partnership with Rioja, Burgundy or Merlot, basically, lighter, smoother and fruity styles of wine with little in the way of tannin. My suggestions at this time of the year when you want to impress would be Vina Ardanza Reserva Rioja or Faustino 1 both of which are £18 per bottle. These smooth opulent wines represent the pinnacles of their trade and are dressed to impress in the bargain. Don't be afraid of buying a well dressed wine by the way as they aren't all gimmicky.

Greystoke Estates do a gorgeous cut of Roe Deer tenderloin fillet which if cooked correctly is to die for. Deer meat is very lean but extremely full flavoured and lends itself well to a whole cacophony of winter vegetables, vinegars or sauces. My preferred partnership is with simple local veg and a rich, madeira gravy to dress the plate. You need an Aston Martin of a wine to partner deer, something elegant and suave that hides enough muscle to cope with the richness of the meat. A full on Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz from Australia or South Africa would do the trick and the DB9 of these would be the Mollydooker Boxer Shiraz at £13.00. On tasting this for the first time, one prominent writer wrote 'if you only ever get to drink one wine in your life, make it this one, it's pure decadence'.

If after all this food and wine and a few sorbets in between, you can handle a pud, point your dish to Cartmell and try their awesome Sticky toffee pudding. This is dates dates and dates with a half inch of toffee sauce on top and the lightest of touches. There’s only one real partnership to recommend here and that’s a PX Sherry. Yes, I did recommend Sherry but the PX style is like no other beverage in the world. The selected grapes are left to dry on slate beds for several weeks in the sun to concentrate the fruit and are then gently crushed and fermented and left in barrels for many years. The best in the world in my opinion are the la Sacrista wines from Romate with an average age of 25 years, these inky black sticky delights are almost a pudding on their own. The best thing is that since Sherry has a down market price after so many abuses in the form of the Cypress varieties of the 70's, you can pick these ancient and world class versions up for as little as £24!

Anyway, enjoy the season and watch this space after the Christmas break for some ideas of how to be good and yet still enjoy your food and wine.

Merry Christmas or for the politically correct, happy holidays.'