It is true that the holiday season is a time for fellowship and sharing.
Trouble is, for those of us who like wine, it’s also a time to receive some truly bad gifts. You know what I’m talking about. The probably re-gifted porcelain cheese cutting board and knife set. The bottle of white zinfandel that fairly screams “I picked this up at the gas station on the way to your house.”
This year don’t give the oenological equivalent of a crappy necktie.
There’s no better gift for a wine lover than, well, wine. And nothing says celebration quite like a good bottle of bubbly.
While you can’t go wrong with the real stuff – Champagne, that is – domestic sparklers are often as good – and less expensive.
Among the best I’ve tried recently are produced by Domaine Carneros Brut Cuvee (about $26 per bottle), made with organically grown grapes.
Neighboring Mumm Napa also produces some lovely bubbly, including a Brut Rose ($24), whose faint rose color (from the skins of pinot noir grapes) seems to make it especially festive. Toasty Cuvee M and Brut Prestige are also wonderful (both run about $20 each). For those in search of something more unusual, you might go for a bottle of Biltmore Estate Blanc de Blanc 2006 ($25), a nifty sparkler redolent of apples that’s produced at the eponymous estate in Virginia.
Of course, bottles given as holiday gifts don’t have to have bubbles. Other non-effervescent wines that would make any host happy include venerable Chalk Hill’s 2007 Chardonnay, about as perfect an expression of California winemaking as you can get (but at $48 a bottle, not cheap). Their 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon ($65) is fantastic, if also pricey. And the North Slope Pinot Gris 2007 ($40), with its hints of fig and honey and hazelnut, goes particularly well with holiday foods and moods.
Beckmen Vineyards’ 2007 Marsanne is a marvel of floral honeysuckle and dry minerality. And at $25 a bottle, a bargain. I’m especially fond of their 2008 Estate Syrah ($25), a riot of lush fruit.
If big fruit’s what you’re after, go with a Quivera 2007 Petite Syrah ($26), an inky and elegant wine that’s perfect with holiday lamb dishes (I’m drooling just typing these words about Quivera).
If your hosts are passionate about pinot noirs (read: these are people you should seek out as friends), bring a bottle (or several) of Bouchaine 2007 Carneros Pinot Noir ($30), whose hints of plum and cherry and toffee seem to complement both fish and fowl. Or spring for their earthier but elegant Estate Vineyards Pinot Noir ($45).
This article appears in Dec 16-22, 2009.