The holiday season is a traditional time for gift-giving, and wine is certainly a favorite, both as a host gift when attending a party or as a regular holiday gift. What’s a good wine to give? As is often the case, the answer is—it depends.
What it depends on includes the purpose of the gift, your budget for gifts, how important the recipient is to you, and their level of wine sophistication. If, for example, you are invited to a dinner party and decide to take wine, it would be helpful to know what food is being served. On the other hand, you should never expect your hosts to serve your wine at dinner. They may have already selected wines that match the food being served.
Sparkling wine, particularly champagne, is always an elegant gift, and there are a wide variety of price points. Bubbly from California is very reasonably priced compared to bubbly from Champagne. Several French Champagne houses have California labels, including Moët & Chandon (Chandon), Taittinger (Domaine Carneros), Mumm, and Roederer. These range in price from $18 to $28. Want to go with champagne without busting your budget? Try one of the recent class of champagne makers called “grower-producers.” These are typically small owners who grow their own grapes, then produce the wine themselves. This contrasts with the big “houses” such as Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon, Krug, and Perrier-Jouet, which buy grapes from the whole region and blend them into their house style. You can find very nice grower-producer bottles in the $40 to $60 range. Notable names include Charles Orban ($50) and Philippe Fontaine ($45).
If you would prefer a still wine, whether red, white, or rosé (which has recently become popular again), you have a few thousand bottles to choose from. Experts from around Pittsburgh shared their favorites in a variety of price ranges. The prices listed are approximate and depend on where you buy the wine.
Mike Gonze, owner of Dreadnought Wines in Lawrenceville, has been in the wine business for over 40 years as an importer/buyer and retail seller. For an inexpensive wine that can be consumed young, Gonze likes a village Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent from Domaine Marion Pral ($20). It also pairs nicely with a variety of food. Having just returned from Germany, Gonze fell in love with an unusual German wine—a rosé made from pinot noir grapes called Bocking Rosé ($24). While many Italian white wines are very light, Gonze enjoys Fattoria Pagano ($22) from the heartier Fiano di Avellino grape. Gonze advised doing some research before making a purchase. “With the Internet, it’s a lot easier to pick a nice wine for gifting. Just get online and educate yourself.”
If you want an impressive bottle with a good rosé wine in it, Ben Mehl, the wine director at the Duquesne Club, suggested Miraval ($25), the famous label started by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. You can even debate whether the wine was worth the fight the two stars had over it. Mehl likes sauvignon blanc white wines, since they are great with seafood or just for sipping. If you like the New Zealand style, with high acidity and a grassy tropical fruit-like taste, Kim Crawford ($20) is a well-known label. For a U.S. sauvignon blanc that’s a little pricier, Mehl suggests Merry Edwards ($45) from California’s Russian River Valley. Despite the bad rap the merlot grape got in the 2004 movie Sideways, Mehl enjoys it because of its wide range of styles and food-friendly flavor. Decoy ($25), the second label of Duckhorn Vineyards, is a great example of California merlot.
Mike Noonan, a senior wine consultant from Sokolin, a national importer and retailer of fine wines, suggested the very popular Whispering Angel ($20) from Provence as a recognizable name for a dry and tasty rosé. Going more upscale for a good friend or a savvier collector, he recommended the California cabernet sauvignon from Silver Oak. You could choose the Alexander Valley offering at $75 or the pricier Napa Valley version for $150. For a white wine, Noonan offered two choices. The first was Roally ($40) from the Viré-Clessé sub-region of southern Burgundy. The Viré-Clessé appellation was created in 1999—just yesterday in French wine region terms—and is quickly gaining popularity for producing tasty and less expensive wines from chardonnay grapes. For greater name recognition, a much more upscale chardonnay-based wine from Burgundy is the Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru ($175). Noonan promises that gifting it will make your friendship even stronger!
If you put some thought into the wine you choose, it’s very likely the recipient will be delighted. Happy gift giving, and be sure to raise a glass yourself during the holidays!
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