Christmas is coming, perhaps the finest feast day of the year after Thanksgiving. It’s time for the wine lover’s much anticipated ritual: prowling the cellar to see what wines you want to serve, then building a holiday meal around them.

You weren’t thinking of doing it the other way around, were you?

Greet your guests at the door with a warm hug and a festive glass of bubbly. Save the fancy champagnes for New Year’s Eve and serve friendly, informal prosecco:

•  Nonvintage Lamarca Prosecco, Veneto, Italy: light, lively and slightly sweet, with a soft fizz and flavors of grapefruit and minerals; $17.

Serve an elegant hors d’oeuvre like Oysters Rockefeller, accompanied by a creamy sauvignon blanc:

•  2011 Tangent Sauvignon Blanc, Paragon Vineyard, Edna Valley; crisp and lively and smooth, with flavors of green pears and minerals; $13.

Even if you’re not Italian, consider a traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes — everything from polpi in humido (stewed octopus) to scungilli (snail) salad, and serve a nice Italian vermentino:

•  2011 Cecchi Family Estates Litorale Vermentino, Maremma, Italy: full-bodied and crisp, with white peach and lemon flavors; $17.

For a small gathering, choose roast a chicken — prepared simply, with only lemon and rosemary — and serve it with an all-American chardonnay:

•  2010 Wild Horse Chardonnay, Central Coast: hint of oak, rich and creamy, with flavors of pineapples and peaches; $17.

Get out the fancy, once-a-year china — including those rarely used soup bowls you inherited. Make a spicy Thai orange curry soup (Google it) and serve it with a crisp rosé:

•  2011 Matchbook Rose of Tempranillo, Dunnigan Hills: lightly sweet, with orange, peach and strawberry flavors; $10.

Dig a hole in your back yard, roast a whole pig and fill the neighborhood with porcine perfume, serving it with its perfect match, dry gewurztraminer:

•  2011 Castello di Amorosa Gewurztraminer, Anderson Valley: rich and generous, with spicy litchi flavors; $23.

Toss a big slab of salmon in the oven to roast, and serve it with a red-wine-with-fish complement like pinot noir:

•  2010 Cambria Pinot Noir, Julia’s Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley: rich and dry, with black cherry and bitter chocolate flavors; $25.

Play Ebenezer Scrooge — the kind-hearted one from the end of the Dickens tale — and roast a whole goose for your Tiny Tim and family, served with a hearty petite sirah:

•  2010 Hand Craft Petite Sirah, California: bold tannins, hearty blueberry and black cherry flavors, powerful structure; $11.

Pretend you’re squire of Downton Abbey and serve roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, matching it with what the Brits would call “claret” — a powerful French Bordeaux:

•  2009 Chateau Puy-Blanquet Saint Emilion, Grand Cru, Bordeaux: big, ripe tannins, cassis and coffee flavors, fruity; $26.

Vegetarians at your table? Serve Martha Stewart’s opulent Spinach and Gruyere Souffle (Google it too) with an equally rich and tasteful white viognier:

•  2011 McManis Family Vineyards Viognier, California: vanilla-scented, with ripe, white-peach flavors; $12.

For dessert, serve the delicacy your family has been clamoring for — wine-soaked, rum-filled fruitcake, or maybe a figgy pudding — and accompany it with rich, red port, or a Christmas-style beer:

•  Nonvintage W & J Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Port, Portugal: sweet and powerful at 20 percent alcohol, with flavors of dried sweet cherries and chocolate; $22.

•  Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig Ale: hearty and full, chock with holiday spices; $14 per 12-pack.

And a Merry Christmas to all.