On the grapevine

To the arches: Rob Hoult in the Railway Arches in Huddersfield spends ages thinking up the silly Christmas cracker jokes that go into his daily Advent offer emails (sign up at info@ hoults.com). But the real point of these emails is the amazing one dayonly offers. Today, and today only, for personal customers who must visit the shop, Rob has a stack of Caliterra Limitada ‘A’ Malbec Carmenère 2016 from Chile, inset, down from £20 to £12. This is a gorgeous, rich, concentrated wine that will do your Christmas dinner proud. And if you can think up some new jokes it will make his day.

Fizz!: Anthony Rose is an awardwinning wine writer with decades of experience, travelling and tasting wine. His new book Fizz! (£35) takes a broad look at sparkling wines from around the world, bringing each country and region into focus, including a particularly good section on English fizz. The history and producers of Champagne are covered but so are South Africa’s Cap Classique, Spain’s Cava and Italy’s many different sparklers as well as Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China.

10 Great Wine Families: If gathering your own family together isn’t enough for the festive season, then 10 Great Wine Families, by Master of Wine Fiona Morrison (online at www. academieduvinlibrary.com, £30) might put your own family into perspective. This book looks at the businesses and the dynamics of some of Europe’s most important families including Torres of Spain, Niepoort of Portugal, Gaja of Italy and Perrin of France. Finances, wars and in the case of the Frescobaldi family, a 14th century English assassination squad, have all had their impact on the outcome of business, yet they survive and thrive. Fiona is married to Jacques Thienpont, owner of the famous Le Pin in Pomerol, which is also featured in this book.