Food and wine matching is neither an art nor a science and much of the time it can be taken with a decent pinch of salt. It was brought home to me having recently returned from China where restaurant customers knocked back their wines that Western sommeliers would demand marriages for in heaven. No one dish resembles another. Our own likes and dislikes apart, the quality of the raw materials, the seasoning, saucing and spicing, are simply too varied to suit a one-wine-fits-all formula.

Why bother then with the adage that red wine goes with meat, white wine with fish, port with stilton, chablis with oysters, sancerre with goat’s cheese and nothing with asparagus or chocolate? We bother because there’s a grain of truth behind the classic pairings, because we want to get the most from the wine we choose with our cooking, because we don’t want to lose face, and because sometimes guidelines, as distinct from rigid rules, can be useful. In grain of truth spirit then, here are some white wines for this Christmas.

When the compass points to Chablis, you know you’re heading in the right direction. With scallops, prawns, smoked salmon and white fish, you can’t hope for much more than the gorgeously nutty, mineral concentration of a Brocard 2010 Chablis Premier Cru Mont de Milieu, £16.99, Sainsburys, or his equally taut and steely-crisp 2011 Chablis Vaillons, £16, The Wine Society.

Turn the compass south towards Beaune and you’ll find a superb white burgundy in Domaine Carillon’s richly concentrated, apple-crunchy 2010 Bourgogne Chardonnay, £18.85, Corney & Barrow (02072652400), or the superbly exotic, rich and nutty dry 2010 Domaine Cordier Pouilly Fuissé, £19.80, Domaine Direct (020 7837 1142). Even Aldi, yes, Aldi, is getting in on the act with an opulently peachy, 2011 Puligny Montrachet, £16.99. Poor person’s fish white? Guillauma Cabrol’s spicy, rich and characterfully crisp 2011 Picpoul de Pinet Prestige, £7.99, buy two = £6.99, Majestic.

Speaking of versatility, riesling can often trump chardonnay, especially with wines with the refreshingly crisp, dry lemon and lime zest of Booths 2008 Riesling Vieilles Vignes, Alsace, £9.99 or Josmeyer’s headily scented, richly flavoured and tangy dry 2011 The Society’s Exhibition Riesling, £11.95, or for a mouthwatering glass of zing and zest, Stephanie Toole’s intensely lime zesty, dry 2011 Mount Horrocks Watervale Riesling, around £17.99, The Leamington Wine Company (01926 888994), Wimbledon Wine Cellar (02077362191).

Changing horses in midstream, a no less excellent option is chenin blanc when it’s as great as the superb appley and honey freshness and mineral bite of the 2011 Domaine de la Taille aux Loups Montlouis, £15.99, Waitrose. For a left-field version, try the crisp and juicy 2011 Domaine Les Yeuses Vermentino, £6.50, Lea & Sandeman (02072440522). Next week: And so to red.

Something For The Weekend

Something for the Weekend 15 December 2012

Night in

2011 Tesco Simply Garnacha

Pure garnacha from Bodegas Borsão in Campo de Borja, this is a juicy Spanish party quaffer with inviting aromas of plum and prune and a thoroughly gluggable juicy ripe plummy fruit quality with a spicy edge to it. £4.49, Tesco

Dinner party

2011 Carmagnole Prestige Caramany.

Behind the powerful pepper and liquorice fragrance lurks a classic Mediterranean blend of old vine carignan, syrah and grenache, whose blackcurrant and berry fruits concentration is underpinned by garrigue herb and spice and a characteristic rustic flourish. £9.99, Marks & Spencer

Splash Out

2009 Chanson Meursault

From the Sainsbury’s Classic Selection, this is an impressively full-flavoured, white Burgundy from the Côte de Beaune in which peachy ripe chardonnay fruit mingles with complex, subtle oak and nutty characters and finishes on a mouthwatering, mineral dry high. £25.99, Sainsbury's.