Last Minute Gift Ideas for Wine Lovers
By John ~ December 11th, 2009.
Even though it’s only two weeks until Christmas, if you are like me, you still have some Christmas shopping to do. If you know the person that you are shopping for is a wine lover or at least has an interest in wine, here’s a list that I hope will help you figure out what to buy for them. Or maybe it will even give you an idea of something to put on your own wish list.
Some of these items I actually own and can recommend from personal experience, some I’ve had wine-loving friends tell me about, and some are actually on my own wish list this year. This list is certainly not exhaustive, but hopefully it will give you a place to start.
Wine Books:
- For those new to wine, A Year of Wine by Tyler Colman and Drink This: Wine Made Simple by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl.
- For those interested in wine and food, What to Drink with What You Eat by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (my pick as “Most Useful Wine Book of 2009â€).
- For those interested in Northwest wines, WineTrails of Washington by Steve Roberts, WineTrails of Oregon by Steve Roberts, and WineTrails of Idaho by Steve Roberts are all excellent guides to winery tasting rooms.
Wine Magazine:
If you like Washington State wine or simply want to learn more about Washington State wine country, there’s probably no better place for good information on a regular basis than through a subscription to Washington Tasting Room Magazine. Kori writes for the magazine, so you know it must be good!
Wine accessories/gadgets:
- Electric Bottle Opener – Light and mobile, you simply remove the opener from its charger base, place it over the top of the bottle, and it removes the cork with a touch of a button. Then, with another touch of a button, it releases the cork from the “wormâ€.
- Cork Pops – This is an air-pump cork remover that we previously reviewed and demonstrated in a video. You insert a hollow needle through the cork and then push on the end of the cartridge to force propellant into the bottle, which “pops†the cork out.
Wine:
A bottle or two (or three, or twelve) of wine itself can be a great gift but sometimes can be a bit daunting to select. There are thousands and thousands of wineries and wines out there and a lot depends on how much you would like to spend and the taste of the person for whom you are buying. Rather than recommend a few specific wines here, I’d like to refer you back to a recent post that listed our “go-to†Washington wineries for 2009. The wineries listed in bold had multiple high quality, high QPR wines that we tasted. You can generally buy with confidence from these producers. Use the Wine Peeps “Search†feature for information about specific wines from these producers.
If you have other wine gift ideas, please share them in the comments.
Happy Holidays!
Filed under: Wine Gifts/Accessories
If you’re looking to get me a gift, which I’m sure you’ve been waiting for my list, I’ll take a case of Seghesio Zinfandel please and a subscription to WA Tasting Room mag.
😉
cheers and Merry Christmas