Many years ago, when entertaining my then girlfriend (now wife) for our first Valentine’s Day, I spent a considerable amount of time and effort preparing an authentic beef bourguignon.

With more than one bottle poured in during the slow-cooking process, it did not offer the lightness one might desire on such an occasion. After pushing it around the plate for an hour, she was less than delighted to then be presented with pudding – a sherry trifle. In the years since, not unreasonably, she has insisted on planning the menu. I have been left in charge of drink.

For an excellent white wine, I would suggest Bodega del Abad’s San Salvador Godello 2021. A refined Spanish white from Bierzo in northwest Spain, it is made from 100 per cent Godello grapes grown on the 80-year-old granite stones of Valtuille de Arriba. With wonderful aromas of white fruit, it is creamy with an intense finish. It gets its complexity and freshness from the fact that after it is harvested by hand, it is aged in French oak barrels followed by stainless steel.

My wife is planning something lighter than a beef bourguignon, and this wine goes well with fish or seafood. The buttery taste may well provoke memories of a particularly good Chardonnay. It’s priced at just shy of £30, but a cheaper option from the same producer is the Abad Dom Bueno Godello. Similarly light and dry, with citrus flavours and a crisp finish, it is rare to find a 100 per cent Godello of this quality for £18. A very good wine to drink while cooking.

One’s thoughts move from these enticing whites to a slightly lighter red. Perhaps to Burgundy ahead of Bordeaux, where you can get a seductive thrill from simply rolling the names of some of the offerings found there around your mouth. Chambolle-Musigny, Latricières-Chambertin; Clos de Tart, Puligny-Montrachet; Échézeaux, Les Amoureuses, Clos de Bèze. Although these are all legendary, the downside is they are often quite pricey. The thing to do is to make a visit to your local independent wine merchant, not a supermarket, and ask them to recommend their pick of one of these or any other famous producer or domaine’s basic wine.

The 2007 Chateau de Rayne Vigneau goes magnificently well with freshly baked madeleines

A quality producer, in a classic vintage, will turn up a simple Bourgogne Rouge. If you give a budget of £20 to £40 you can be rewarded with wines of world renown. I have been enjoying the lightness of Mark Haisma’s Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2022, but your local merchant will almost certainly have some gems of their own.

And if you do happen to be unlucky in love, never mind. If you’re drinking Burgundy you can always console yourself with the words attributed to various wags of days gone by: ‘I forget the name of the girl, but the wine was definitely Chambertin.’

For a final sweet treat, if you’re looking for something more delicate than a sherry trifle, you can turn back to trusty Bordeaux for a classic Sauternes. Julie Bindel recently made a compelling case in an online Spectator piece that dessert wines should not be limited to an after-dinner drink, and while I entirely condone that sentiment, there are occasions when they serve their eponymous purpose best.

Everyone has their own preferences for level of sweetness, but I recommend the 2007 Chateau de Rayne Vigneau as providing an ideal balance, and it goes magnificently well with a dozen freshly baked madeleines. This is what we will be enjoying for our next romantic dinner. After all, if you get the drink right, marital bliss usually follows.