Dee Sargeant
There are few dates on the calendar that invite indulgence quite like Easter. It is the season of roast lamb, polished cutlery, too much chocolate and the sort of long, happy lunches that begin in bright spring sunshine and end with someone quietly asking whether it might be time to open something special.
That is precisely the space Hackstons Knightsbridge has stepped into this year, with an Easter selection that feels built not just for gifting, but for celebration itself.
At its Knightsbridge flagship, the award-winning drinks specialist has assembled five bottles designed to carry the occasion from first course to final glass. There is pedigree here, certainly, but also a sense of occasion: wines for the table, whisky for the after-dinner lull and Port for the moment dessert gives way to conversation.
Hackstons has made its name by treating fine wine, whisky and spirits with the sort of care normally reserved for rare watches or vintage cars. For Easter, though, the mood is less investment portfolio and more polished pleasure.
The selection spans the Southern Rhône, Austria’s Kamptal region, Scotland’s whisky heartlands and one of Portugal’s most storied Port houses, each bottle chosen for the way it can transform a meal, a gift or a quiet spring evening into something memorable.
A red made for the Easter centrepiece
If Easter lunch still belongs to roast lamb, then the 2012 Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf du Pape has all the credentials of a proper guest of honour. Priced at £115, it comes from the celebrated Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe estate in the Southern Rhône and carries the kind of gravitas that suits a table laid with intent.
Drawn from the famed La Crau plateau, with its distinctive galets-covered soils, the wine opens with dark cherries, blueberries, liquorice and coffee. On the palate it moves into red berries, stewed plums and savoury notes, before closing with a subtle gaminess that feels tailor-made for lamb. This is not a bottle for knocking back while standing in the kitchen. It is one for the centre of the table, poured with a little ceremony and enjoyed at the pace Easter lunch deserves.
A white for spring vegetables and lighter plates
Not every Easter dish arrives dressed in rich gravies and carved with a large knife. There is also room for freshness, restraint and the quieter charms of the season, which is where the 2022 Bründlmayer Grüner Veltliner Langenloiser Alte Reben comes into its own.
At £43, the Austrian white from Kamptal offers a more delicate sort of sophistication. Produced with a strong emphasis on ecological vineyard practices, it brings concentrated aromas of white pepper, lemon, apricot and blanched almond, followed by a smoky, spicy finish and a mineral spine that gives it real table presence.
This is the bottle for spring vegetables, for elegant sides, for plates that lean green rather than grandiose. Easter can sometimes buckle under the weight of its own traditions; this wine gives the table a bit of poise.
Whisky for when lunch gives way to chocolate
Then comes that pleasant Easter drift, when the plates have been cleared, the second wind has kicked in and somebody produces a box of chocolate that was supposedly for later. Hackstons has accounted for that moment too.
The Daftmill 2011 Winter Batch, priced at £103.50, is a limited Lowlands single malt from one of Scotland’s smallest farm distilleries, made using estate-grown barley and matured in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels. It offers orchard fruits, honey and fresh barley, with a gentle grassy note that keeps the whole thing light on its feet.
What makes it especially suited to Easter is its suggested pairing with lighter chocolate, particularly honeycomb milk chocolate. There is a creamy, delicate sweetness to the whisky that allows the pairing to sing without one flattening the other. Easter may still belong to chocolate eggs, but this is a grown-up answer to them.
A richer dram for the long evening
If Daftmill is the polite and charming guest, Balblair 25 Year Old Single Malt Whisky is the one who arrives in a velvet jacket and somehow gets away with it. At £590, this Highland whisky sits at the more indulgent end of the Hackstons Easter selection, but it more than earns its place.
Matured in ex-bourbon casks and finished in Spanish oak butts, it offers aromas of ripe apricot, liquorice and toasted oak, followed by chocolate praline, orange oil and tobacco leaf on the palate. Warm, smooth and deeply layered, it feels less like a casual pour and more like the sort of dram that closes an evening in style.
Paired with high-cocoa dark chocolate, it becomes the kind of after-dinner ritual that can rescue even the most overfed Easter guest from the sofa. Rich, contemplative and impressively composed, it is a bottle for those who like their celebrations to finish with a flourish.
Port for pudding and the final word
No proper Easter spread should ignore dessert, and Hackstons rounds off the line-up with the 1997 Fonseca Vintage Port, priced at £99. Fonseca remains one of Portugal’s great historic Port houses, and this bottle has the depth and confidence to take on the sweeter side of the holiday without flinching.
It brings sweet blue and red fruits, warming spice, coconut and floral notes, all grounded by a dark mineral structure. Paired with spiced dark chocolate, it becomes an especially fitting end to the Easter table, drawing out both the wine’s richness and the savoury edge of the chocolate.
There is something wonderfully old-fashioned, in the best possible sense, about finishing an Easter meal with Vintage Port. It slows the whole occasion down and gives it a proper ending rather than a gentle collapse.
More than a gift, a way to mark the moment
What Hackstons has done well here is understand that Easter is not just another retail opportunity with a ribbon on it. It is a celebration built around gathering, sharing and marking the season with a little more care than usual. These bottles work because they suit those rituals, whether they are being wrapped as gifts, carried to a host’s front door or opened at a table full of family and friends.
A Hackstons spokesperson said: “Easter is a time for bringing people together around great food and drink. This selection has been carefully chosen to complement the season, from wines that elevate a traditional lunch to exceptional whiskies and Port for after-dinner moments. Each bottle tells its own story and adds something special to the celebration.”
That, in truth, is the real appeal of the collection. It is not just about rarity or reputation, though there is plenty of both. It is about finding the right bottle for the right Easter moment, whether that means a serious red with lunch, a brisk white with spring dishes, a soft Lowlands whisky with chocolate or a venerable Port when the day starts to lean into evening.
The collection is available now through Hackstons’ Knightsbridge flagship and online, with additional Easter gifting ideas also available through the Hackstons website.
For those looking to make the season feel a little more polished, and perhaps a shade more delicious, it is a selection that arrives with very good timing indeed.
