With Christmas and Hanukkah falling on the same day this year, you’re probably struggling with deciding what wine to gift to those special wino’s in your life. Well, today I’m going to suggest a few options for your consideration that would excite my palate were I to be the recipient of such vinous largesse.
The holiday season, which now begins right around Thanksgiving and will continue through New Year’s Eve, is a time when you will spend about seventy percent of your yearly wine budget purchasing bottles for gifts, parties, and holiday dinners. Here are some bottles that should please the palate of just about every serious sipper. Let’s begin with pinot noir – a very versatile wine that pairs well with a variety of foods like beef, chicken and even salmon.
2021 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir ($90) – I have collected wines from this Oregon producer since their first vintage in 1990, and this Evenstadt is among the best they’ve ever produced. Full of earthy, dark cherry flavors with a hint spice and oak, this pinot noir is both silky and deep.
The quality of Italian wine is sometimes surprising to wine lovers who are mainly accustomed to drinking full-bodied red wines from California. While many Italian reds can match the intensity of the best Napa Valley cabernets, wines from Italy’s “boot full of wine” can offer more balanced and nuanced bottles. One of the best wines in the world is Brunello di Montalcino made from sangiovese and produced in Tuscany. Here is one of my all-time favorites.
2018 Castello Banfi Poggio alle Mura Brunello di Montalcino Riserva ($95) – With aromas of spice and sage, this wine is pure silk exhibiting medium-bodied intensity along with round, rich flavors of ripe cherries. The wine would be a lovely accompaniment to a New Year’s day celebratory meal of roasted rack of pork.
Wines for holiday gift-givingI’m always on the lookout for California reds that exhibit both power and finesse. That generally leads me to wines that are blends, and one of my favorites is a wine called Cyrus. This eminently approachable wine would make a great holiday gift for someone special in your life.
2021 Alexander Valley Vineyards Cyrus ($75) – This Sonoma County wine is named for the founder of Alexander Valley Vineyards, Cyrus Alexander. It’s a full-bodied, yet supple, blend of cabernet sauvignon 54%, cabernet franc 27%, merlot 17%, and 1% each of malbec and petit verdot. The wine has great structure and balance with flavors of blackberries, mocha and spice. Decant the wine for at least one hour and then pair it with any roasted meat like prime rib or pork tenderloin.
If you thought I was only a fan of red wine, you would be mistaken. I love white wine and especially chardonnay in all of its various iterations – from simple and unoaked to full bodied and buttery. The wine I’m recommending for your holiday gift giving today is on the full-bodied end of the spectrum, but it also has complimentary and balancing acidity.
2022 Keller Estate La Cruz Vineyard Chardonnay (Petaluma Gap) ($55) – With a nose of tropical fruit and spice, this delicious mouthful of wine is highlighted by flavors of ripe peaches and vanilla crème brulle. The richness of the wine is balanced by ample acidity. This chardonnay begs to be paired with broiled lobster on the half shell drizzled with drawn butter.
Since no holiday celebration is complete without sparkling wine, I suggest you go out and buy yourself a nice bottle of Champagne. You deserve it for all your thoughtful and heartfelt gifts to friends and loved ones. In fact, I’m going to treat myself to a bottle of Perrier-Jouet Blason Rose’ ($70),
and my first toast will be to you
Happy Holidays!
John Brown is also a novelist. His latest book in the Augie Trilogy – Augie’s Wine – has just been released and is now available. His first two books– Augie’s War and Augie’s World – are also available online and in bookstores around the state. You can find out more about his novels, and review all of his archived Vines & Vittles columns at wordsbyjohnbrown.com
