Holiday gift ideas for your wine loving friends
Tens of thousands of bottles of wine will be sold in Ohio in the coming months as wine lovers prepare to visit with family and friends. While carrying an award-winning vintage as a hostess gift is always a great idea, if you need something for an office gift exchange or as a present for that family gathering, here are some ideas.
Good wine glasses. There is a huge range in price options: from an elegant Riedel Performance stem through a lovely, to a more moderately priced, yet highly regarded, the Schott Zwiesel selection are good choices. But whether you choose a traditional stemmed variety, or even a quality stemless variety, good glasses have similar characteristics: the bowl walls should be thin, crystal clear, not faceted, and there should be very little or no bowl decorations to detract from the quality of the wine. The rim should be “cut,” meaning no “bead” to interrupt the flow of the wine to the palate.
A good wine book. There are dozens and dozens, but I have a number of favorites. They include Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Wine Complete Wine Course, Wine Folly’s Essential Guide, Marnie Old’s Wine Tasting Course, Hugh Johnson and Janis Robinson’s World Atlas of Wine, and Karen McNeil’s Wine Bible for general wine knowledge. For those interested in California and its history, some fun reads with a glass wine in hand in front of a roaring fireplace, include James Conway’s Napa, Julia Flynn’s House of Mondavi, and Jon Bonné’s New California Wine. And for Ohio wines, an oldie but goody printed in the 1980’s, is Roger Gentile’s, Discovering Ohio Wines which tells the story of many of the earliest leaders of the modern Ohio wine community. Patricia Latimer’s Ohio’s Wine Country Excursions is also somewhat dated because of the amazing explosion of family wineries in the past decades, but again a fun read to explore the works of some of our pioneers. I loved them all.
A good corkscrew. The most common style is a wing type corkscrew, available in nearly every grocery store’s “kitchen gadget” isle. Just make sure the “screw” has a sharp point and a tight curl at the end. Otherwise, as it may mangle the cork as it is inserted. An ‘Ah–So’ cork puller will extract a cork “ahh so” easily and undamaged if it is used correctly, but in an unpracticed hand, may push the cork into the bottle. So, it probably is not an appropriate gift for a newbee wine lover. The most versatile choice is a waiters’ corkscrew which looks and functions much like a common jack knife including a small knife to cut the foil cap, a screw to twist int the cork, and a lever to extract the cork. Each is generally affordable. Much more expensive choices might include a “Rabbit” version, an electric rechargeable extractor or the well-advertised but very pricey Coravin tool.
A wine appreciation class. Ohio’s own Lauren Fiala, WSET4dip, is conducting some exceptional classes for the American Wine School, teaches a Wines of the World Class at Ashtabula KSUA, and is a certified Wine Specialist for the Riedel Glass company. She has plans for several regional fine wine and food events featuring this amazing stemware in coming months. You will learn lots from this talented wine expert.
A wine club membership. Several Ohio wineries and a myriad of other vintners from around the nation offer subscriptions which will deliver amazing wines several times a year, right to your doorstep.
A gift certificate for Ohio Wine Producers’ sponsored events. Gift cards are available on line at www.Ohiowines.org and can be applied to one of the many OWPA activities in the coming year: the chocolate trail on the V.I.N.O Trail in northwest Ohio and on the Vines and Wines Trail: Wine N Bloom Tannenbaum and Chocolate Trail in northeast Ohio, Winter Wine Affair in Youngstown, Deck the Wreath on the Shores and Islands Trail, Vintage South in Springfield, Vintage Ohio in Remarkable Lake County, and V.I.N.O. Wine Festival in Bowling Green as well as for one of the several Riedel Wine and Food events led by Laure Fiala around the state. Finally, new in 2023 will be a series of “Discovery” wine and food events which will feature some of the award-winning hybrid and native wines offered by family wineries across Ohio. All events are posted on the website.
The wine lovers on your list will enjoy your thoughtful gifts for sure.
For additional information: dwinchell@OhioWines.org