I am struggling through the living room trailing a six foot Christmas tree while Mrs C is sat on the sofa with a glass of fizz writing her Christmas drinks list. Not surprisingly, this list tends to be rather long and fills two A4 pages; before I get to edit it down to an affordable level.

“I need some help with the tree,” I say, holding up the metal base in one hand while balancing the tree in the other.

“You need to focus,” Mrs C replies.

At Christmas we try not to buy wines from a supermarket and prefer to support our local independent stores. When it comes to drinks, The Bottle Bank in Discovery Quay is one of our favourite haunts. The store was opened in 2008 by founders, Nick and Lewis, who have since expanded the business by supplying Falmouth’s restaurant trade. When it comes to wine, these guys are a fierce, font of knowledge and their sheer passion for wine shines through.

Our Christmas drinks, I may add, are not all for us – as every year we also buy for friends and family. My brother likes beer but he also adores Armagnac, and my best friend is a serious rum aficionado, so both these gifts are easy to source from the expansive range available. On our annual pilgrimage to Discovery Quay, Mrs C suddenly morphs into Mrs Taster – making a nuisance of herself by sampling just about every liqueur on the shelves, including Limoncello, and her favourite, Frangelico – while I am left to lug heavy cases of wine back to the car.

What I admire about The Bottle Bank is that they strongly support our Cornish beer and wine producers, including Camel Valley and the Knightor Winery. They also promote a huge range of Cornish Vodka and Gin – including Tarquin’s, which recently won an award as the World’s Best Gin! There is a new arrival called Fowey River Gin, which is a unique collaboration between Cornish Cider maker, Haye Farm and Cornwall’s oldest potato farm, Colwith Farm. The Bottle Bank has a Christmas Tasting on Saturday 9th December, so do try and pop along.

In the living room I pull stray pine needles from my hair and stand back to admire the Christmas tree, as dusk slowly falls outside the window.

“Well, what do you think?” I ask.

Mrs C looks up and lets out a sigh. “There are too many branches, go and get a saw from the garage.”

Follow Tony Cowell on Twitter: @cowelltweets