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Last-minute gift ideas (drinking edition)
Look for the hinge.
I still have some thoughts about my 10 most memorable wines of the year, including a lot of contenders I intend to share that didn't quite make it but are worth mentioning.
But right this moment, unless you're one of those types who bought your 2010 planner around Halloween, you're probably having that last-minute gift freakout.
We've already covered lots of gift ideas this season for the imbiber in your life: books; wines; whiskies and more.
But if you haven't stocked stuffings just yet, I've dug through the pile for a few more quick ideas:
- Bubbly wisdom: If you can only dream of real Champagne this year, or if someone you know is looking to geek out, "The Finest Wines of Champagne" (UC Press, 320 pages, $35) is a reliable guide. Part of a series launched by the team at World of Fine Wine, this effort by Michael Edwards provides in-depth profiles of most of the major houses and significant growers, putting faces and colorful details to their labels. For a constantly up-to-date guide to the subject (and a gift you can buy without moving from your computer), I'll again suggest the excellent Champagneguide.net ($89/year), the extensive online guide run by writer Peter Liem, which I've praised before. (Liem, who lives in the Champagne region, is an occasional contributor to The Chronicle.)
- Bubbly itself, under $20: It's lovely and timely to have Champagne on hand (some recent recommendations here) but just about any wine with fizz — OK, maybe not those with a plastic top — under twenty bucks will find a happy purpose in the next couple weeks. Open it with eggs, toast being done with shopping, mix it in punch, have a glass with Christmas Day DVDs ... whatever. It's a cost-effective way to add a bit of happy. Cava (I'm partial to Avinyo and Dibon, and Cristalino if I'm under $10) and Prosecco (keep an eye out for Alice, Drusian and Ca'Vittoria) are never a bad idea. Closer to home I'm with many of my fellow wine writers in loving the perennial utility of the Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut, which usually can be found at the closest supermarket in case you suddenly need a house gift.
- A good corkscrew: But not an expensive one. For around $10 you should be able to get a hinged waiter's corkscrew (like this), with a Teflon or synthetic worm (the part that goes into the cork) that comes out more easily — and crucially, a hinge on the arm that helps you pull the cork in two easy motions. It might not be the flashiest thing in the stocking, but honestly it's the most helpful and arthritis-preventing thing you can buy the wino in your life. As a bonus, pick up a Screwpull foil cutter (around $7-8) to make your bottles look prettier on the table. Both of these will outlast most of those fancy cork gadgets that get used until about January 8 and then either break or disappear in the Kitchen Drawer of Mystery.
- Good bar tools: Because we'll never buy them for ourselves. My revelation this year was the cocktail beaker, which is a pretty great gift for anyone who drinks martinis, Manhattans or Negronis at least once a week. But along with that, consider a good bar spoon that has a bit more heft than the cheap ones — a better shaker set; or a Hawthorn strainer more durable than those in the housewares aisle. The Oxo is a solid pick. Also, if you like citrus in your drinks — or in general — steal one of my gift ideas from a couple years ago and buy a sturdy citrus squeezer. Sur La Table and Cask (17 3rd St., San Francisco) are good starting places for all this. If you really are full up on tools, adorn your bar with inspiration from "Lush Life: Portraits from the Bar", (Mud Puddle Books, 80 pages, $25), a visual trek through the top modern bar characters from Jill DeGroff, wife of cocktail whiz Dale DeGroff. And yes, that's our own Gary Regan on the cover.
- Amari: aka, digestive bitters. (Read here, here and here.) Because after a holiday meal, you'll all need them.
| December 23 2009 at 02:24 PM
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