Are you stumped over what to get that hard-to-shop-for wine lover on your Christmas list?  If you think that all they want is a bottle of wine (I’m not going to lie here– they DO) you’re probably wondering if they are dreaming of a red or white Christmas.  A bottle of wine doesn’t have to be the only gift that a oenophile will appreciate; still buy them a bottle of wine and here are some wine-y gifts and tips that I came across that are sure to please.

The Corkscrew

Don’t be fooled.  Chances are that Rosé Rosey didn’t develop her appreciation for the vintage while uncorking bottles with her teeth.  If she is like me, she is likely a curator of an extensive corkscrew collection: winged ones, battery operated ones, fancy screw pulls, roundlets, and a variety of novelty corkscrews that look like (and are as useful as) pez dispensers.  Unless she is a self professed corkscrew collector, she probably doesn’t need all of these.  BUT if you must… my favourite is the sommelier’s knife and I don’t think a wine lover could have too many of them: one for the kitchen drawer, one for the purse, one for camping, one in the bedroom (romantic moments should never be interrupted by running to the kitchen for a corkscrew), one for the office….

The Bottle Stopper

What’s that?

The Outdoorsy Romantic Gift

Question: Where is the best place to enjoy wine?  Answer: Anywhere.  Joe Merlot has this figured out.  He is not confined to the gas fireplace or the candle lit dinner; he dreams of sitting on the edge of a cliff with a glass of Chateauneuf.  Roughing it shouldn’t be drinking wine out of a tin cup, if he doesn’t have one already he needs an unbreakable wine glass.  I came across this great karafe so that he can bring the nicest wine to enjoy on his mountain peak, and this wine picnic backpack to carry a whole romantic meal.

The Thinking Wine Drinker

When not drinking wine, Petit Sara is usually found reading or watching movies about wine with a glass of well, you know.  My all-time favourite book is Red, White and Drunk All Over written by my wine crush, Natalie MacLean and I have no doubt that Sara will feel the same.  A new read that I can’t wait to get my hands on is a ‘vinthology’ of wine making exploits by one of my winemaker heroes, Randall Grahm Been Doon So Long. (I just realized that this post is beginning to read like a love letter…)

Moving on to the motion pictures:

• Sideways (and include a bottle of Pinot Noir or a Merlot to be sassy)
• Bottle Shock (A story about the how a California wine took the world by storm)
• A Walk in the Clouds (A personal sappy favourite and I think Keanu runs in it)

The Techie

Gamay Ray can usually be found pounding the keys with a glass of sherry by his side.  He is googling the latest gadget or the latest award winning vintage so what better gift than a wine USB drive?  I’ve seen these at some specialty wine stores like Liberty or Everything Wine or you can also order these nifty stocking stuffers online.  It comes with a software for Ray to use to keep track of his cellar and to look up countless bottles of wine.  Goodies like wine ring tones (not sure what those would sound like: a cork popping?  bottle breaking?), wallpaper, and links to wine clubs and organizations will keep him busy for hours.

I hope this little list sparks some ideas as you make your way to the malls or computer or wherever you do you shopping these days.  Feel free to comment with more ideas or tips to share.  Above all, be sure to include a bottle or two of something to share (responsibly) together over the holidays.  Come back soon as I am working on a Christmas wine list that you won’t want to miss!

[Wine is] a living thing. I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing; how the sun was shining; if it rained. I like to think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes. And if it’s an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I like how wine continues to evolve, like if I opened a bottle of wine today it would taste different than if I’d opened it on any other day, because a bottle of wine is actually alive. And it’s constantly evolving and gaining complexity. That is, until it peaks, like your ‘61. And then it begins its steady, inevitable decline.  – Sideways

There are two elements of wine that cause my imagination to run wild with romanticism (aside from the imbibing part): the barrels and the vines.  Today, the vines became so very alive to me as I studied them from several vantage points.  On our way to Sonoma/Santa Rosa for the Wine Bloggers’ Conference, Kathleen Rake and I feasted our eyes on the fields and fields of vines from our plane.  They were neatly combed into perfect lines covering the countryside in patches and on the hills the vines wound  in soothing patterns like a green zen garden.  Each field was as unique as a fingerprint.  As we drew closer to landing, I could see some fields were younger and the infant vines were spread further apart, reminding me of hair transplants.

Once we had landed and the rogue cab driver drove us along past the vineyards, Kathleen leaned over and asked me if I could hear them calling out to me.  If they could call out, I would hope that they would shout directions to our driver who took us to two wrong hotels before we had to Google directions for him.  But while he gave us the scenic route, my mind wandered some more as we passed by vines who stood like a chorus line, dressed in luscious green leaves with their arms wrapped around each other as if they were about to can-can.  There were other vines pruned so neatly like soldiers with their crew cuts standing at attention, and some appeared more unkempt with their arms flailing expressively as though they had already indulged too much in their own juice.

California vines are so much like celebrities, and their wine is the music or performance.  Over dinner, we discussed the art of wine and how some are like canned music that is easy enough for listening to that it appeals to many without actually being great music, and others are more experimental and crafted in their appeal to an experienced appreciative audience.  Larry Chandler challenged my understanding of terroir to be more than just the earth in which the wine arose, to encompass the influence of all factors that make a wine unique (perhaps using ‘terroir’ for lack of a better word) but the conversations kept returning to the experience– the story and the relationship, to the wine.

The art of appreciating wine starts with understanding yourself and what you love and don’t love, and then adding a story.  Consider the last time you had a wine experience that stirred your senses: Where were you? Of what did it remind you?  How did the wine come alive?  From the hands that tend the soil to the hand that raises the glass, we breathe life into and from every wine we encounter.