Christmas is the occasion for rediscovering sweet wines and traditional wines that are sometimes forgotten. There are two main categories:
- homemade fortified wines such as orange wine, nut wine, nutmeg wine, and ratafia,
- sparkling wines such as Vouvray, Blanquette de Limoux, and Clairette de Die.

 Loire Valley wines are also used for celebrating.

The Noble-Joué, an ancient vineyard between the Cher and the Indre rivers, produced a vin gris, a type of rosé wine, known as "oeil-de-perdrix", from three grapes: gris meunier, pinot gris or malvoisie and pinot noir. This wine was present at Louis XI's table in his château at Plessis-lès-Tours before disappearing and reappearing in the town of Esvres.

The tradition of sweet and sparkling wines continues at Vouvray.
These famous wines for special occasions from Balzac's time known then as "King's wines" are "of charming memory and honest trade."