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The Ngwenya Glass decanters are distributed by Shopping for a Change, a nonprofit that focuses on establishing sustainable employment opportunities for artisans in impoverished communities and funds community improvement projects. When it comes to sparkling wine service, tall and skinny flutes are going the way of the coupe and the dodo. Tulip-shaped stems are all the rage now—not only are they more versatile, but many wine experts agree that they enhance the bubbly personality of Champagne and other sparklers even better than those old flutes. New this season from top-of-the-line crystal wineglass brand Riedel are its Fatto a Mano Champagne glasses, available in a range of stem colors. "Fatto a mano" translates as "handmade" in Italian, which each of these stems and bases are; the bowl is precision manufactured to ensure quality consistency.
These nonalcoholic sets are especially fun for comparing flavors, and you’ll definitely get bonus points if your host has kids. Le Creuset’s stoneware carafe adds a flash of rustic chic to any kitchen. We like the red cerise version best, but it’s available in tones like Marseille blue, hibiscus pink and Creuset's signature eye-catching flame orange. Man, I sure wish that WS would come out with a list of good wine gifts... Wine Spectator's team of editors taste over 35,000 wines a year. Working within their regional specializations, each taster assesses the wines in controlled blind tastings.
Give What You Love
She also brought me a 1995 Latour as a wedding gift, so I've found a winner. Bright and forward, the 2016 Talbott Vineyards Kali Hart Chardonnay is 100 percent estate-grown from the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County. A vanilla and brioche bouquet accentuates the palate, flourishing with flavors of bose pear, pineapple, and melon, leading to a soft, clean finish with mineral and hard spice notes. This new legend of Sleepy Hollow shines brightly day or night with prosperous, concentrated flavors and intense character from this illustrious vineyard.
The Irish ex-pats behind Manhattan’s Dead Rabbit, regarded as one of the world’s best bars, have a knack for creativity with their national spirit, offering drinks that showcase Irish whiskey’s lighter and more floral leanings. Don’t miss the section on homemade syrups, tinctures and infusions or the indispensable front-of-book primer on the whiskey itself. The green foil cover makes the book a fetching holiday gift for your favorite amateur cocktail slinger—even if that person happens to be you. This unique decanter with an ice pocket for chilling white wines tells a story for a cause. Made by Swaziland's Ngwenya Glass, each piece is hand-blown from recycled glass, and the company's furnaces are fueled by discarded cooking and engine oil. Local schools help collect the used glass in exchange for building materials and soccer kits.
For the Cheese Obsessed
The company offers other bitters and also makes stylish barware, tonic syrups and more. It falls in that category of gifts that the host can either choose to present or save for themselves to enjoy later. I’ve given these as thank-you gifts throughout the year as well, and they are always a hit.
The key to carrying the perfect Swiss Army knife is choosing only the tools you really need. This year’s limited edition holds special appeal for both blade aficionados and wine lovers. In addition to the corkscrew, it showcases a sizable main blade in strikingly patterned Damasteel and a skeleton blade for handling sticky cheeses. Featuring a luxurious matte-finished pear wood handle, this comes in a transparent gift box to flaunt its beauty. Do you get frustrated when you can’t quite get the last pour out of your traditional, wide- and flat-based decanter? Tired of looking like a rookie when the decanter’s flat top causes you to dribble wine onto your tabletop?
Tasting Report: Champagne
While growing up in his family’s wine business, California vintner Pete Seghesio’s favorite annual occasion was sausage-making day. When the winery was sold in 2011, Seghesio and his wife, Cathy, turned their attention to becoming excellent salumi producers. They also sell a wooden guillotine slicer to achieve paper-thin slices of their Journeyman salumi.
All the work is done by one guy, Zach Pinerio, and takes place on a small island off of Martha's Vineyard—so there's no doubt that purchases support a small business.
It looks beautiful on the tabletop, sparks curiosity among guests about what they are drinking, and at the end of the night if there is still some wine left, all you have to do is push the neck down and place the vessel in the fridge. What if you could recreate the wine bar experience in the comfort of your own home? The Coravin Model Six Wine Preservation System lets you do that in style. Known and loved throughout the wine industry, this genius combination of design and technology is the secret behind some of the world’s best wine-by-the-glass programs.
Wine Spectator's Owen Dugan reviews gifts for wine lovers, from coasters to Champagne sabers. This holiday season, delight your friends and family with thoughtful, handpicked gifts of fine wines. Bigger isn’t always better, but these hand-blown, Austria-made glasses are awfully impressive.
Bibiana González Rave is one of my favorite winemakers in California—her exuberant spirit shows in all of her wines. Perhaps related, the Colombia-born vintner is also a coffee enthusiast who drinks several cups a day. It's a natural extension for Rave to start importing Colombian coffee beans from high-altitude, small farms and roast them herself.
Fashioned in a variety of vivid colorways, these blades are also easy to spot if dropped. If you only choose one to gift, pick the JH Hunter/Forager ($269), whose 4-inch blade can tackle camp chores like carving a tent stake and still fillet a fish. Wine Spectator's team of editors taste over 35,000 wines a year.... Not even certified Masters of Wine are likely able to pinpoint every wine appellation on the globe. I exchange wine with my brother for christmas every year and always look forward to it. The 2016 William Hill Estate Winery Napa Valley Chardonnay shares notes of apple, pear, tropical fruits, and lemon balanced with coconut and baking spices, leading to a finish worthy of a celebratory toast.
The coffee in this subscription is so smooth and complex, even latte lovers will like it black. Fans of the retro style will like the Vivianna cheese board and knife from Scandinavia-inspired cookware designer Dansk. A replica of Swedish jeweler Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe's elegant 1988 design, this version is beautiful and well-priced, with a steel blade. As I have been recently finding out, there are some spectacular wines under 100 bucks. No matter how much wine this guy has or what his wine budget is, he will be the first to tell you that price is not always indicative of quality.
Shout outs to my in-laws, Miami Atty and Emilio who have given me the best wines as presents. It’s a little copper disc on a stick (mine’s actually attached to a pretty, and infinitely more useful, Laguiole corkscrew), which, is purported to “age” the wine in your glass, at a rate of one year per second. I’ve tried it a number of times, and all I can suggest is that it’s complete bunk. Even if all it is supposed to do is oxidize the wine, it doesn’t seem to do much except make everyone else at the table enjoy a laugh at your expense. Denise Mueller is a St. Louis–based certified sommelier and certified specialist of wine.
A few years ago, a friend gave me a wine funnel with a little mesh screen to catch any sediment I’ve missed, and a series of perforations at the bottom, which pushes the wine into a tulip-shaped spray. It’s a nice way to quickly aerate younger, more rustic wines, and although it’s a little gimmicky, I find myself using it more than I’d expected. Join today and get immediate access to this article, and to our entire database of more than 400,000 wine ratings. It only takes moments—but it will help you drink better all year long.
They would actually be pretty funny gag gifts, except I know they were sincere efforts, having gone to the wineries themselves and picked out what they thought was good. The typical explanation is "I don't know anything about wine, but the gal-pals I was with really liked this, so I bought a bottle for you." Doesn't matter if you gave me wine as your last 10 gifts; I'll still be happy. I hope you all have a chance to relax, enjoy friends and family and a good bottle of wine over the holidays.
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