Champagne is not just for summer: the finest cuvées are no longer a seasonal affair, some top-end champagnes are guaranteed to warm your heart even on the coldest winter evening

There are good reasons why champagne is considered a summer drink: the clink of glasses of chilled fizz on a lawn in the sunshine is one of the most pleasant sounds in the world. But at the other end of the quality (and price) scale there are champagnes as complex and sophisticated as the finest red wines that are excellent accompaniments to seasonal food.

For me, no winter is complete without a glass of Bollinger. A serious champagne (never a frivolous one), dominated by the bosky, red fruit notes pinot noir, the RD (for Recently Disgorged) collection is something no great cellar should be without: these are Bollinger vintages that have been matured on their lees (spent yeast cells) at the Chateau from the year they were made until their recent release. Try the RD 1990 or 1985, available now, and you can taste the biscuity, evolved, ‘rancio’ flavours of a beautifully matured champagne. The jewel in Bollinger’s crown is the Vieilles Vignes Francaises, made from 100 per cent pinot noir and Burgundian in its gamey complexity: if you can find it, try it with roast pheasant.

For sheer balance of richness and freshness, and a distinctive light fruit complexity, Pol Roger stands out, and in particular its Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. The 1995 has a lovely golden colour and tastes of honey and biscuits; one to sip at the start of a serious supper.

Because of its weight and complexity, Krug is another great winter champagne. The Grande Cuvée has enough layers and depth to match many game dishes, though if you’re in the mood there is little in the champagne world to match Krug’s version of ‘RD’, its Collection range. I recently had the privilege of trying a 1979 Collection, and it was a tidal wave of nuances, nutty, creamy, tasting of dried fruit and autumn woods, yet utterly fresh. The 1985 Collection is similar; and while they will complement game dishes, these are really champagnes to savour by themselves.

Champagne must be made from wine created from one, two or all of three grapes: chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier. It is the latter two, that make red wine, that give champagne the body that qualifies them in my book for ‘winter champagnes’, and they are by definition always present in pink champagne. There are two schools of rosé champagne: light summertime pinks and structured, full-bodied ones; the latter make great winter food companions. Try Veuve Cliquot’s rich, fruity rosé as an aperitif and then move on to its powerful, structured, tannic La Grande Dame rosé with rich game dishes: this is a champagne that will stand up to a wild boar casserole.

More delicate, but near the very top of the rosé tree, is Dom Ruinart Rosé. This is a balanced, nuanced, perfumed wine made by a champagnehouse long known for its prowess in the rosé department; it improves beautifully with age, and the 1990, available now, makes a perfect companion for guinea fowl or quail. It also comes in a lovely case, which makes it the perfect gift. – Darius Sanai