A few Christmas Day suggestions from Chateau Sunny Dave ...
Aperitif :
A gorgeous Palo Cortado Sherry - dry at first taste and then all sorts of medicinal sweet flavours come through - either sip it neat (my preference) or chuck it over some ice.
Malbec is my red grape of choice at the moment - I can't do any more than recommend my old favourite - it's what I'll have with my Roast Lamb on Christmas Eve :
Love Malbec! A good Trivento is hard to beat. Open it a day before you need it to let it breathe. Tesco often do offers on cases of it, so I buy in bulk and store it.
I'm with the 'breathers' - I went to a lecture a few years ago where they did some blind tastings of wine opened either minutes or hours before - it was very obvious which was which.
I tend to slosh (literally) red wine into a jug/decanter and give it a couple of hours at least - turns a £6 bottle into a £9 bottle :)
johnny, I used to have Mavrodaphne back in the days I used to have Blue Nun, Black Tower and green gills. But I tried some recently and it was still very pleasant, perhaps a bit less sweet but still lush.