Get Ready for the Onslaught of Wine Gift Guides

November 28th, 2008

Turkey and wine pairing articles are so over. They are officially the stuff of November 1st through November 27th. So, what’s next? Expect an abundance of pieces on what gifts to buy your wine loving friends…get ready for blog post upon blog post, upon newspaper article, upon magazine gift guide.

The first holiday gift guide devoted to wine would seem to be in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. You can find Jon Bonné’s introduction here, with a table of contents (over on the left) that will lead you to no fewer than eight separate pieces in the Chronicle’s special section. Expect many more such guides to follow from other reputable sources.

However, as insightful as many of these pieces will be, remember one thing: when searching for that perfect gift/gadget/etc. for your friends and family, you can never really go wrong with…wine — especially a wine that you love, one that has meaning to you. There’s no substitute for something truly personal; and, for that, you are your only guide.

2 Responses to “Get Ready for the Onslaught of Wine Gift Guides”

dhonig
November 29th, 2008 at 5:48 am

Yup. I have a 1,000 bottle cellar (with LOTS of empty slots- contributions welcome) and two different wine blogs, so people either (a) say “I had no idea what to get you,” or (b) buy useless wine gadgets. Hey folks, the thing I like about wine is wine.
Andre Ribeirinho
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:58 pm

Most of my friends think I know more about wine than they do - which might be true but it’s irrelevant - and they end up being afraid of offering me bottles that I might not like.

And this is totally wrong as like many wine lovers I like to try every different wine I can find!

get your wine on

2007 Ponte de Lima Vinho Verde, Portugal

Bring a little “green” to your life with the Ponte de Lima Vinho Verde from Portugal. It’s actually a white wine - the green refers to its youth and freshness. It’s slightly effervescent and zippy, giving you the sense of a warm summer’s day on a cold winter’s night. This one is very easy on the wallet to boot, at just eleven buckaroos! Buy Green Wine for Wintertime.

2007 Cortes de Cima Chaminé Red Blend

Yummy Portuguese table wine that’s a blend of Aragonez (aka Tempranillo), Syrah, Touriga Nacional, Trincadeira, and a smidgen of Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s just asking to be paired with winter stews of braised meats. A great value at $19 a bottle.Buy Cortes de Cima Chaminé

2005 Amavi Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla: #42 Wine Spectator in the Top 100 of 2008!

OK, don’t screw the WS top 100! This came in at #42 and it deserves at least that. It’s the only reasonably priced domestic cab on their list, and we love it. It’s deep and rich and generous with the oaky vanilla — but not cloyingly so. Yay for #42 - just $28.

Search

freshly pressed

Cellartracker Embraces Twitter:

If you’re interested in wine and want a way to keep track of wines you’ve tasted, or bottles in your collection, a great place to do so is the site CellarTracker. Go over there and familiarize yourself with it. It’s really easy to use and offers the largest database of wines, along with a huge community of users who frequently post tasting notes.

Eric LeVine, the mastermind behind CellarTracker has recently become a Twitter user. You can follow him on Twitter here. And in a very significant feature addition to CellarTracker, Eric has just enabled Twitter functionality for all CellarTracker users, so that when you write a new tasting note, it will automatically post to Twitter with a link back to the CellarTracker data. Eric’s explanation and instructions can be found here.

This combo of two killer apps, a niche wine community with a Web 2.0 pioneer, could be a game changer.

(My apologies to Tim Elliott whose voice I seem to be parroting with this post!)

Cellartracker Embraces Twitter

January 3rd, 2009

The Year Ahead At domaine547

January 1st, 2009

Around the Wine Web: Affordable Bubbles

December 23rd, 2008

wine jargon

Frizzante
From Wikipedia: Frizzante is an Italian wine term term for semi-sparkling wine (as opposed to Spumante, which is generally used for fully sparkling wines). Frizzante wines generally owe their bubbles to a partial secondary fermentation in tank. You might notice a light fizz or tingly sensation on the tongue with a Frizzante wine, compared to the more carbonated sensation that more fully sparkling wines yield.

Scorekage
Okay, so we made up this word yesterday after a great restaurant experience. We brought a bottle of wine with us, expecting to pay a corkage fee. But the restaurant either forgot to charge us the $15, or decided to be nice to us. We scored! Hence, “scorekage” has entered our lexicon. This can also refer to BYO friendly restaurants that don’t charge for corkage under any circumstances.

Frizzante

March 29th, 2008

Scorekage

March 23rd, 2008

Rioja

March 3rd, 2008

grapewise

Fabulous & Frugal!
Our friends launched a new site and domaine547 is a featured wine columnist in their premiere edition! Go check out Fabulous & Frugal for some fantastic lifestyle tips for living the good life during what, for most of us, is an economically challenging time. There’s much more than wine there, and we’re thrilled to be a small part of the start of what will surely be a successful venture. Congrats to Brandi & Steph for their achievement!

domaine547