TAWNY ports aren't just for Christmas, folks. In fact, they can be ultra-flexible when the mercury rises, as long as you have access to a fridge or a bucket of ice. While I adore a room temperature tawny in the winter, they rapidly become heavy and claggy in the heat of summer, but thankfully this wonderful style of wine is even better chilled.

Tawny port is basically a port that's been aged for many years in casks, sacrificing their dark colour to the wood but gaining vanilla, nuts and toffee fudge flavours in the process. While it will annoy anyone from Portugal for whom the subject becomes as touchy as the Falklands is to the Argentinians, I tend to include most of the New World ports under the same ‘tawny’ banner. I do that simply because the style is the same and, sensitivities aside, the wine shelves are confusing enough for shoppers. Tawny is a style as far as I'm concerned.

Weirdly, the sweetness of an aged tawny is transformed into a refreshing finish when the wine is chilled but best of all is their ability to match the type of picky foods we all love by the barbecue. In addition to the expected matches of chocolate, cheese and desserts such as cheesecake, I've found chilled tawnies to be superb matches for roast lobster, crab meat and chicken.

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Sandeman 10 yr Old Tawny

Vanilla, roasted nuts and lashings of dried fruit with a fabulously refreshing finish when served chilled. Everything you expect from this famous house.

www.winedelivered.co.uk £24

Quinta Noval 10 yr Old Tawny

A superb fireside wine in the winter months but what a cracking surprise to see how this highly complex port opens up in layers when chilled. Roasted nuts, caramel, dried fruits and hints of burnt sugar. More I say, bring me more!

www.oddbins.com £26

Gerard Richardson