The red's foxy aftertaste makes it just right for anti-hunting politicians

Large-scale Christmas parties require cost-cutting measures, and Corney & Barrow is offering its three house wines at prices you can all afford. These are genuine bargains, and so easy to drink that you will be into the second bottle before you have passed judgement on the first. The white is especially delicious - a blend of Ugni Blanc, Colombard and Listan from the Cotes de Gascogne, with a fruit-filled flavour and zesty acidity that lifted our spirits after the hunting ban and set us cheerfully on the road to jail. The red is produced in the Aude region by the Lurton brothers - the same Lurton brothers who are based also in Argentina and who are no doubt eyeing up the Falklands. The Carignan grape provides plenty of backbone, together with a smooth and supple flavour that went well with grief and even better with sausages. As for the bubbly, this is the genuine article: bottle-fermented from the lighter and spicier varietals, and far more cheerful than cheap champagne. We shared it with Ron, our neighbour, one of the half-million "landowners" who recently marched through London in defence of their feudal rights. He went cheerfully back to the shed he borrows, determined to go on tramping after hounds.

Living with people like Ron makes you wonder where it is that politicians like Alun Michael and his PPS, Peter Bradley, acquired their education. Did they just lift that stuff about our feudal countryside from Eric Hobsbawm and E P Thompson, or did they take the trouble to visit the people whom they are so happy to despise? I hereby invite them to visit us this Christmas, so as to crack open a few bottles with our impoverished neighbours. The other half of C&B's offer would suit them well. The Sancerre is beautifully made by Philippe de Benoist. It has all the allure of the Sauvignon, with a firm gout du terroir beneath, the result of painstaking organic cultivation by Philippe's son Cyril. Hereditary property, aristocratic names and an entrenched right to hunt above the vineyards - this wine would go down with Bradley like a toast from Macbeth. He would probably feel the same way about the Chateau de Lamarque, which has been six generations in the de Fumel family, their current descendants bearing the name of Gromand d'Evry, and producing a claret as velvety and distinguished as their name. The chateau is picturesque, poignant and feudal, the perfect place for Bradley to exercise his snivelling resentments.

Red Anjou is a rarity, and this delicious example, from 100 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon, has a pebbly finish that recalls the lighter kind of Graves. Our visitors would surely relish the slightly foxy aftertaste, just as they would be charmed by Olivier Leflaive's white Burgundy. They could share it with Sam the horse, whose life they intend to destroy.

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