Christmas is time for gift giving and since wine is an easy-to-get last minute gift, a lot of newspapers and tv shows are running articles and segments about wine gift giving. This morning I was milling around before leaving for work, I had the TV on and was checking the fridge for something eat when I heard Al Roker talking something about giving wine as a gift ~ my attention quickly turned to The Today Show. I didn’t really have the time to sit and watch it so I hit the record button (we have TIVo, the best invention since the TV itself) and I watched it later.
It was a good little segment and had some sweet wine paraphernalia. It featured Maureen Petrosky, contributing editor for Bon Appetit Magazine and author of the book The Wine Club
Ms. Petrosky made a comment that I’d like to repeat as it is directly related to giving wine as a gift. She stated that there are many, many, many good wines that are priced between $10 and $15. This is the price point where you should be when giving wine as a host or hostess gift. You never want to “show-up” the host, there is an etiquette to giving wine as a hostess gift and you’ll be just fine if you stay within the $10-$15 range.
I’m going to list the products they showcased but I’m not going to cover each item in great detail. I will, however, give you a good overview and links where you can go to purchase them.
“Wine Tasting Party” - The first item and my personal favorite was from Red Envelope, and was called the “Wine Tasting Party“. It’s a set of four faux-suede bottle bags, four faux-suede scorecard holders with pencils, and a faux-suede wine tasting guide. You use the bottle covers to hide the wine you’re tasting. Each person can keep their own score and notes. Ms. Petrosky suggested putting a $5, $10, $20, and $30 bottle of wine in each bag of the same type of wine and let everyone try to figure out which is which. There are a ton of things you can do and this is really fun. It reminds me of a tasting I went to back in the seventies when Opus One first came out. We did a blind tasting trying to figure out which bottle was the Opus. Great fun. A very classy gift. Cost $75.
Vivid Wine Decanter - This beautiful and elegant decanter is from Wine Enthusiast and is a perfect gift. It’s hand made in Europe and has a wide base for perfect aeration of your wine. Lead-free crystal makes it lightweight so it’s easy to hold and pour. Not only a beautiful gift but a great value as well. Cost $59.
Wine Coolers, Gift Certificates - They showed a couple of nice wine coolers from Wine Enthusiast priced from $149 to $179. They even had a small one that holds 6 bottles of wine that comes in the color of your choice. Or if you can’t find the perfect gift, you could always give a gift certificate, Wine Enthusiast offers those too.
Wine Master Pocket Electronic Buying Guide - For the techie from Wine Enthusiast, this little thing holds more than 10,000 wine and spirits reviews, ratings (100 pt. scale) and retail prices. It’s also updateable with easy-load cartridges. You can take this gadget with you to wine shops and restaurants and never make wine buying mistake. Pretty cool. Cost $39.
I’ll be talkin’ to ya later!
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