Two of my close friends, Andy and Tony, got married last weekend in London. I missed their wedding but sent them one of my favourite wedding presents, that I hope they will enjoy, and I think should be more widely offered to those of us who like wine.

It's an anniversary wine case - for me I put in six bottles, from Year 0 to Year 5, but you can of course vary the number and quality depending on your budget. If I had unlimited funds, I would have done a case of 12, going from Year 0 to Year 5, and then the last six being bigger anniversaries of more expensive wines, maybe for Year 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 40.

The idea is that they get out the bottle I have selected and labelled 0., 1, 2 etc each year on their wedding anniversary, to celebrate each other and to hopefully think of me aswell. You have to pick wines that will be ready to drink in the year they will be opened, which makes it trickier (but more fun) to choose the right wines.

The wines I chose (from the Wine Society, who could do cases of six, but I had to send the labels with my personal comments separately) were:
Year 0 (2008) - for the honeymoon, champagne of course. I chose Alexandre Bonnet Grande Reserve.
Year 1 (2009) - A New Zealand sauvignon blanc. Tony is Australian, and they have both lived and travelled round NZ, so this seemed appropriate, and of course great as young as possible. I went with Trinity Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2007.
Year 2 (2010) - Over to Australia for this year, and Andy's favourite grape, shiraz. Went with Grant Borge Old Vine Shiraz
Year 3 (2011) - Third anniversary is leather, so chose a Rioja which is often described as strawberries and leather. Wanted one that would be soft and ready to drink, so chose La Rioja Alta Vina Alberdi Seleccion 2001.
Year 4 (2012) - Olympic Year, but no English wines that I could send now would still be drinkable in 2012, so went with South Africa, who will be hosting the World Cup in the same year. L'Avenir Shiraz 2006.
Year 5 (2013) - They are planning to move back to Australia this year, so chose a taste of Europe (and as I live in Bordeaux, something that would remind them of me). A Margaux, Chateau Desmirail 2000, that should taste fantastic at 13 years old.