When You’re Unsure What to Give

It might seem to be an impossible task to buy a gift for a wine lover, especially if you know little about wine and can’t figure out what wine to get that will be appreciated.

The solution, then, is to avoid buying wine at all and instead go after wine gifts that are longer lasting and that any wine lover would covet. This includes wine glasses (wine people never have enough glassware), decanters, corkscrews and especially books.

Of course, if you know a bit about wine and would like to give wine as a gift, it is appropriate, especially at this festive time of year when wine is the favorite liquid gift (merchants say they make about 25% of their annual wine sales during the period from Thanksgiving through Dec. 31).

When selecting a wine to present as a gift, keep these suggestions in mind:

-- Try to find something you know well (not just something you’ve read about), something you’ve tasted and can vouch for. Or something that is highly recommended by a merchant for either value or panache.

-- Aim for a wine that is not run-of-the-mill stuff that any wine shop will carry. Such California wine brands as Dunn, Forman, Woltner, Diamond Creek, Duckhorn, or Spottswoode are prized by collectors and even if a collector has a case of one of these, an extra bottle is always welcome.

-- Magnums of red wine, which are not common, are an especially nice gift for the wine collector with a cellar, and some specialty wine shops carry a line of magnums. Call a local wine shop to see which magnums are available.

-- Older wines that are no longer commercially available are good ideas, and a number of wine shops keep a small selection of older wines. Often, prices aren’t as high as you might think.

-- Wine lovers usually are lovers of great distilled spirits too, and occasionally a bottle of a special Cognac, single-malt Scotch, grappa or Armagnac can be a fast solution. These products are not vintage-dated so you need no special knowledge to buy them. Wally’s in Westwood and the Flask in Studio City have large selections of grappa and single-malt Scotch (Wally’s boasts more than 50 different grappas).

-- Vintage Port and Sauternes are great dessert wines that wine lovers treasure, though they rarely buy enough of them.

The non-wine gifts for the wine lover may be bought in any wine shop, and many department stores carry a range of vinous gifts. But there are pitfalls, so I suggest the following as possible gifts that wine lovers would appreciate. The recommendations here are listed from $5 to $150 in ascending order.

$5 to $9: Keeping an opened bottle of wine fresh is difficult. Once the cork is pulled, all wine begins to deteriorate through oxidation. To limit the oxidation, it’s best to recork the wine immediately and refrigerate it (thus slowing down the chemical reaction).

I do not recommend that wine be frozen to keep it fresh, as I have read in some books and magazines. The act of freezing a wine will actually accelerate the oxygenation of the wine and cause it to lose too much of its bouquet.

If you can take the remainder of a bottle and place it in a smaller bottle that has no air between the wine and the cork or cap, that works best. Failing that, use an inert gas to fill the original wine bottle.

A number of companies put out cans of inert gas, and I have tried many of them. All work to some degree, but the best one I’ve tested is Private Preserve, which is essentially a nitrogen sparge for the bottle. A couple of squirts from the can and you can safely recork the bottle for weeks. (I tested a half bottle of Cabernet and left it six months and the wine was still fine when I finally reopened it.)

Getting the top of the foil off a bottle of wine can be messy, especially if the wine is an older bottle and the foil is welded to the glass by residue from the cork.

The best gadget invented to help you get that top part of the foil removed is called the Hallen Foilcutter, which simply clips the top of the foil in two seconds.

Getting a bottle of Champagne open is a fearful experience for some because the cork can easily fly away and damage people or things. Getting a grip on it, however, is a lot easier when you have something like the one-piece Hallen Champagne Star, a device that provides grip on the cork so it can be twisted in the bottle and then eased out.

Another device that also works is called the Champagne Key, made of metal and hinged to open and then clamp onto the cork. It typically runs a couple of dollars more than the Star and works just as well, but is especially recommended for Champagne bottles with stubborn corks that don’t twist. (One model of the Champagne key runs $40. It works better than the lower-priced version, but the cheaper one works fine at a fraction of the price.)

Spring-loaded Champagne stoppers are great stocking stuffers. These keep the bobbles in bottles of Champagne that aren’t finished.

The best value in books for the wine lover is Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Encyclopedia of Wine 1990 (Simon & Schuster, $9.95). It’s updated with recommendations on the latest available vintages of wine from around the world and chock full of Johnson’s insights into wine and serving it.

$10 to $17: Every wine lover owns a corkscrew or two--or 10. The best models use a helix for the screw, not a machined piece of metal that can tear the center out of the cork. (You can put a straw up the center of the wire helix.)

A decade ago, Herbert Allen invented the best corkscrew I’ve ever used, called the Screwpull. It features a Teflon-coated helix and a needle-sharp point.

The company Allen founded, the Texas-based Hallen Co., with annual sales of $7 million in wine gadgetry, has come out with various sophistications of the original model throughout the years, and Hallen’s Pocket Model is my favorite. Though it’s called the Pocket Model, I never take it anywhere.

The reason I prefer it is that it has a finger hole for twirling the cork out of the bottle. It’s simple to use and usually no more than $16, making it just pennies more than the traditional waiters’ corkscrew.

For the dedicated wine lover, knowing the temperature and humidity in the wine cellar is important, and one of the better values in a combination thermometer-hygrometer is a small, stick-on unit available from Brookstone for $12.50 plus tax and shipping. To order, call Brookstone at (603) 924-9511.

Wine lovers always need more decanters, and the simple, inexpensive decanter I use is an attractive gift. It is the European-style Carafe, a 28-ounce wide-bottomed decanter that is sold with a wood bung (to keep air out) for $13.25 by Marjorie Lum Wine Glasses. For a catalogue of Lum’s wine glasses and other wine gifts, drop a note to 112 Pine St., San Anselmo, Calif. 94960, or call (415) 454-0660; fax (415) 456-9197. Shipping costs average $4.

Sometimes a bottle of wine that few people can get is a surprise gift a wine lover would like, and such a wine is the 1988 Chaparral Chardonnay made by Chalone from Sangiacomo grapes and sold by Duke of Bourbon in Canoga Park and Wally’s in Westwood and Toluca Lake. The wine, $12, is not available at any other Southern California location.

Wally’s also has the only supply in town of the highly regarded Elijah Craig Bourbon, $15.75.

$18 to $30: The best wine to give as a gift is one that’s no longer available, but so little such wine exists at a reasonable price. One superb one that is available is 1985 Franciscan Cabernet Sauvignon Library Selection, a marvelously structured, deeply flavored wine that I loved a year ago when the winery was selling it for $17.

The winery no longer has any, but the Wine Seller in Westlake Village still has a good supply at $219 per case, which makes it just $18.25. This superb wine may be ordered by telephone: (800) 827-9463.

The Wine Seller also has a number of older wines including 1981 Sterling Reserve at $26.40 a bottle.

Chilling down a bottle of Champagne for the holidays can be done in the refrigerator (slow method: the door is constantly opening and closing), in the freezer (but it’s usually filled and there’s no space), or an ice bucket.

A number of expensive crystal buckets are available in upscale department stores, but these are a lot more fragile than the aluminum bucket that retails for about $25 to $30. Some of them have the logo of a Champagne house, others are blank. Get one with handles for easy carrying from sink to table.

San Francisco-based Wine Appreciation Guild, which specializes in wine books, also carries an attractive aluminum Champagne bucket large enough to accommodate a magnum bottle. The Bourgeat Bucket retails for $30. To order, call the Guild at (800) 231-9463 in California or (800) 242-9462 outside California. Shipping costs average $4.

Once that bottle is cold, keep it cold with a Wine Brick. I have seen some terra-cotta versions for $15. The Wine Appreciation Guild has an attractive hand-painted model for $30.

A book for wine lovers that offers insight into wine from a different perspective is “Through the Grapevine, the Business of Wine in America,” by Jay Stuller and Glen Martin (Wynwood, $19.95).

The authors look at various aspects of the wine business with a healthy skepticism and offer engaging interviews and discussion with some of the industry’s more important (but less public) figures.

$30 to $45: Budding collectors building wine cellars might appreciate the Cellar Cube, an 18- x 18-inch unfinished pine cube that holds two cases of wine. The Guild sells it for $35.

Marjorie Lum also carries a larger, more classic hand blown decanter with a top. The bulbous-bottomed decanter slopes up to a nice slim top standing 15 inches tall. Included is a glass stopper. The 40-ounce decanter is $35. (Address and telephone are above.)

The Duke of Bourbon and Wally’s are also the only two stores to carry single-cask special lots of the Germain-Robin Special Lot Brandy, made in Ukiah using traditional Cognac production and blending methods. The stores carry the product for $39.95.

Also $39.95 is what Steve Wallace of Wally’s called “the best Cognac I have under $100,” Domaine Frapin Vieille Grand Fine Champagne Cognac, a single vineyard Cognac.

A new book on wine with a fascinating look at where wine has been is “A History of Wine in America: From the Beginnings to Prohibition,” by Thomas Pinney, chairman of the department of English at Pomona College (University of California Press, $45).

The scholarly work corrects some misconceptions that have been passed down by public relations people and gives an insight into today’s neo-Prohibitionist movement by looking at those of the past.

$47 to $75: Glassware may be hard to buy (what style, type, color, etc. is appropriate), but one glass every wine lover should have is the official tasting glass known as the INAO Glass (for Institute de National d’Appellations d’Origine), a classic 6 1/2-ounce glass with a small tulip-top and a fine rim. The Guild offers a 24% lead crystal INAO glass in sets of a dozen for $48. This is the perfect glass for wine lovers who are occasionally invited to tastings where they have to bring their own glasses.

In a larger wine glass, more suited for the dinner table, the following two are offered by Lum: The 13 1/2-ounce, 7 1/2-inch tall Chimney, a perfect all-purpose white or red wine glass; the Merlion Glass, similar to the popular Les Impitoyables, but smaller, holding 11 ounces; it stands 6 1/2 inches tall. A set of six of either glass is $48.25.

Those who like to carry their wine to parties, restaurants or on picnics would love the Traveler, a zippered kit that holds two bottles of wine, four wine glasses and corkscrew (included). The Guild offers it for $50.

$75 to $100: One of the greatest experiences I have ever had in grappa is a pear grappa imported from Italy by Pearson and Hawkins of Santa Barbara. It is called Grappa di Pera, produced by Jacopo Poli and it is marketed in an extremely lovely, slender 500-milliliter bottle. At $80 to $85, this isn’t inexpensive, but it is one of the most exquisite dessert drinks I have ever tasted.

To open bottles with panache, try Hallen’s Leverpull ($90), which is about the fastest and easiest and most foolproof method of opening wine. (And if you have a dozen bottles to open, it’s a must.) It is packaged with the Foilcutter.

The best Champagne? Some would argue Krug, others say Dom Perignon. And many connoisseurs vote for Salon. The 1982 Salon ($100) is a sublime, richly flavored wine that shows how a fine Champagne can be both rich and delicate at the same time. Salon, made only in great vintages from a single vineyard, offers rich Chardonnay flavors and a depth rarely found in fine Champagne. And it ages in the bottle beautifully, so if the ’79 Salon is available, try it as well in a side-by-side taste.

$100 to $130: The classic temperature and humidity gauge, manufactured in West Germany, is a hygrometer-thermometer offered by the guild for $125. It is attractive enough to be a design feature of a wine cellar where guests will be invited.

The Guild also offers diamond-bin wood storage wine racks. These wooden racks by Plant Manufacturing in San Francisco hold nine cases each, stand 39 by 39, and may be stacked. They are $130 each.

Wine of the Week: 1988 Clos du Bois Barrel Fermented Chardonnay ($11)--The 1988 harvest in California yielded Chardonnays with more flavor than did 1987, and this wine is a stunning example of delicacy with ample richness. The lemony fruit has a hint of orange blossom in it, and the oak is carefully handled to not dominate the wine. This wine will be seen in some locations for less than $10. Good value.