Monday, December 16, 2013

Gastronomista Gift Guide - Wine

One of my resolutions for 2014 is to learn more about wine, and there is so much to learn.  This gift guide is for people exactly like me, looking to learn more about wine, become an expert, and, well, drink more wine.  Cheers to 2014!


1.  Give your wines some oxygen in style with this Twisting Aerator Decanter $30

2.  Give a wine club membership!  Plonk Wine Club sends affordable and delicious bottles to your doorstep every month!  Hand selected by the ever talented Etty Lewensztain, each bottle is guaranteed to be small batch and sustainably grown.  Could it be any easier?  Nope.  $50 for 2 bottles a month, $90 for 4 bottles a month.

3.  I was recently invited to taste New Zealanad's Brancott Estates highly anticipated Chosen Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2010 made from select vines and hand picked grapes, giving the wine a significantly more complex flavor.  It's an innovative wine because of the use of naturally occurring yeast on the grapes, and and decision to bring out more subtle flavors instead of the tropical flavors traditionally found in a Sauvignon Blanc.  This is a wine I am very excited to share with friends this holiday season.  $59

4.  Handsome corkscrews make great gifts.  I love the minimal and streamlined design of the Alessi Socrates Corkscrew. $185  

5.  Wine is meant to be served with food, and one of the best pairings in the world is cheese.  Give a nice selection of Plymouth Artisan Cheeses, with flavors from smoked, to hot pepper, to garlic peppercorn.  

6.  Another timeless flavor combination is wine and chocolate.  Master chocolatiers at Eclat have brought the two together in perfect harmony with their Shiraz Truffles made with ganache infused with 'Boxer' Shiraz made from Australia's Mollydooker winery. $44 for 20

7.  You Had Me at Merlot Sweatshirt - perfect for wine club.  $33

8.  Handsome Cutting Boards for Cheese Plates $50

9.  Pocket Prism Corkscrews for emergencies.  No more opening bottles on trees.  $20

10.  A Wine Aroma Tasting Set helps people train their noses into smelling particular aromas in their wine.  Take a smell of a sample, and then a smell of your wine.  This kit offers six commonly found aromas in red and white wine, and will soon have your nose trained to find associate similar aromas and flavor profiles.  $40

11.  Keep unwanted guests and air away from precious bottles with a Combination Wine Lock.  Genius, we say!  $13

12.  Elk Cove Pinot Noir 2011 is another favorite bottle I've had lately.  It's an Oregon wine with big fruity flavors of cherry, dark stone fruits, and with low notes of chocolate, cinnamon, cedar, and chicory.  The 2011 year had a late harvest, yielding a better pH and acid balance, and a more concentrated fruit flavor than other years.  $26  

13.  Wine Wars is kind of Trivial Pursuit for wine geeks.  What a fun and entertaining way to learn wine facts, whist drinking wine, obviously.  $14

14.  Aerating Wine Glasses for those too lazy (or rushed) to decant.  $20 for 2

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