“Christmas turkey, you can stuff it...” or so goes the Barron Knights’ comic pop hit.

I concur with the sentiment, these days the headline act at the Tipping family Yuletide feast is a large roast chicken.

My mate Dave, down the road, doesn’t like big, fat, gobbling birds either and cooks a goose instead.

Given that this variety of bird life is going to be served up in a couple of weeks, I’ve picked a wine to accompany each.

Of course with the turkey, there are the trimmings to take into account when choosing a wine. Rich gravy, sausages and cranberry sauce can be too much for many whites, I usually choose a lighter style of red. Pinot noir is a very good option but I’m saving that for the goose, so I’ve plumped for an elegant Rioja. The smooth Martinez Lacuesta Rioja Crianza 2005, is brimming with juicy red fruit flavours and some nicely integrated coconut oak notes.

With the chicken it has to be an oak aged chardonnay, although I am not so keen when the woody element is overplayed. A good white Burgundy would fit the bill but I’ve gone for a New World example, this time from South Africa. The fresh tasting, well put together Journey’s End Chardonnay 2007, from Stellenbosch, has lingering flavours of lemon, satsuma and honey with subtle, vanilla oak notes.

The more gamey flavours of goose, will match well with a Kiwi offering (pardon the bird pun). Villa Maria Cellar Selection Pinot Noir 2008, from the Marlborough region, is velvety textured and cherry scented, with red berry fruit, liquorice, cinnamon and cloves on the palate.

Martinez Lacuesta Rioja Crianza 2005, £11.35 at Field and Fawcett, York 18/20.

Journey’s End Chardonnay 2007, £12.99 from Bibendum Wine ( www.bibendum-wine.co.uk) 18/20.

Villa Maria Cellar Selection Pinot Noir 2008, £9.99 each, when you buy two, at Majestic 17/20.

* I thought I was dreaming when I heard that one could get 500 Red Wines for less than ten pounds?

Actually you can, because it is the title of a new book by award winning, York-based wine scribe, Christine Austin. A good little dip-in, dip-out read, it will point you in the right direction when it comes to picking a red.

Austin includes succinct background information, about serving and tasting wine, how it is made, some of the major varieties and notes about red producing regions, alongside the 500 red wines listed. It is illustrated with some top notch photo’s too.

500 Red Wines by Christine Austin is published by Apple Press, priced £9.99.