Give a decent bottle of wine as a present this Christmas
Choosing books, clothes, jewellery or perfume using this criteria is never easy, but I firmly believe that you will rarely go wrong with a decent bottle of wine whatever the price range.
If you have no idea of a person’s preferences stick to red wine for men and white wine for women and I would tend towards the old world rather than the new if the recipient is over 40 (Sancerre or Bordeaux).
If under €40 opt for New Zealand Sauv. Blanc for her and Argentinian Malbec for him.
If you have €300 to spare you could buy a Coravin ( www.coravin.com ) which became commercially available earlier this year. This is a device that allows you to remove a small amount of wine from a bottle by penetrating the cork with a tiny needle and replacing the wine with inert argon gas. You can thus check on the development of treasured bottles and the wine will continue to develop and age unaffected.
The system works well, but to be honest I would rather have the money spent on wine.
Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2015 (€15) is worth buying as always, and if you are buying a corkscrew opt for a “waiters friend” or anything by the Screwpull brand (Brown Thomas, Debenhams). If you are buying wine glasses I particularly recommend Riedel (Brown Thomas, Mitchells – www.mitchellandson.com ) or Spiegelau (Redmonds in Ranelagh have a full Spiegelau Beer Glass selection).
Raymond Blake’s excellent memoir/travelogue “Breakfast in Burgundy – A Hungry Irishman in the Belly of France” is available via Amazon and selected shops and will make fine Christmas reading – I will review it properly in the New Year.
Recommendations this week are mostly Italian including some Chianti which would make good presents. I also include two wines from Spar should you find yourself doing last-minute present buying at 8pm on Christmas Eve.
Stockists: Spar, Mace, EuroSpar
The days of thin and nasty Chianti are mostly behind us now thanks to modern wine-making techniques but the region still has a bit of an image problem at the lower end. This however is organically made, fairly classical in style with red fruit aromas and decent cherry fruit on the palate. Excellent for the price this is well-balanced and flavourful.
Stockists: Wines Direct www.WinesDirect.ie , Mullingar and Dublin
From the classic Prosecco village of Valdobbiadene in Friuli in North Eastern Italy. From a family winery that practices eco-friendly wine-making wherever possible. This is a lively apple- and pear-scented Prosecco which holds its fizz better than most Frizzante and has a fine tangy apple finish.
Stockists: Spar, Mace, EuroSpar
The Santa Helena Varietal range in Spar and Mace shops is at the very low price of €7.99. I tasted my way through the range recently and the Shiraz was my favourite thanks to its good dark spicy fruit. The Cab Sauv and Sauv Blanc are also recommended for their simple fruity pleasures.
Stockists: Wines Direct www.WinesDirect.ie , Mullingar and Dublin
Montepulciano is the workhorse red grape of Abruzzo, Marches, Molise and much of Central and Southern Italy. It can be rather light and insubstantial or a rich and juicy crowd-pleaser such as this example which has supple tannins, fleshy plum-flavoured fruit and touches of spice and smoke.
Stockists: Ardkeen, Waterford; Matsons, Bandon; No. 21 Charleville; Redmonds Ranelagh; Sweeneys Hearts Corner, La Touche Wines Greystones; The Parting Glass, Wicklow.
Chianti Rufina is produced to the NE of Florence and is the home region of the Frescobaldi family for around 30 generations. This is packed with plums and cherries with a touch of tobacco in the background and a lovely silky texture. Elegant subtle Chianti.
Stockists: Eldons Clonmel, Bean n Berry Wexford, Redmonds, Sweeneys, Jus de Vine, Terroirs, The Corkscrew www.thecorkscrew.ie
Fontodi has always been one of the most reliable Chianti producers and the 2011 is no exception. This is a little denser than Chianti of old with dark smoky fruit and some fine layered complexity with plum and blackberry coming through on the finish. This will banish straw bottles from your mind forever.
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