What does a wine lover want for Christmas? Without wishing to be too much of a Scrooge about it, my answer always starts with a list of wine-related things that I absolutely do not want under any circumstances. It’s an anti-Christmas list that begins with an entire genre of tat: anything that could be filed under “novelty wine humour” is to be avoided. That means no “It’s wine o’clock” socks or “Life’s too short to drink bad wine” tea towels, no “Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends” wall plaques – and certainly no sparsely printed stocking-filler books filled with each of the above and dozens of even worse bits of would-be-witty vinous repartee.
Like most wine lovers, I also have an aversion to coloured wine glasses (even if I like the look of that dazzling emerald or golden bowl, I’d rather be able to see what I’m drinking properly) and overly complicated, over-engineered (and insanely expensive) corkscrew contraptions: once you’ve got the knack, a simple, double-lever waiter’s friend of the sort that sommeliers always use is all you’ll ever need to open any bottle.
There are certain wine accessories that I covet with a not entirely rational intensity, however. As well as having sensuous visual and tactile appeal, a good set of wine glasses really does make a difference to the experience of drinking wine: it’s amazing how much more aroma and flavour is released (or – and it amounts to the same thing, as far as I’m concerned – seem to be released) from the best-designed examples. They don’t have to be expensive: following a tip from the doyenne of British wine-writing, Jancis Robinson, I’ve become something of an evangelist for Ikea’s £2.50-a-pop Drygrip range (the stemless glass is my favourite). But if money was no object, a box of the glasses Jancis herself created with designer Richard Brendon (£52 for two of the Precision Universal, richardbrendon.com) or the gorgeous, hand-blown Austrian Zalto Universal (£50 for one, eurocave.co.uk) would make my day.
So too would a book or two on the subject, with those I’ve most admired over the past couple of years including Andrew Caillard’s The Australian Ark, a fabulously detailed, beautifully written, monumental history of Australian wine; and Taste the Limestone, Smell the Slate, the latest fluent, easily digestible and bracingly scientific corrective to flabby thinking about vineyards and soils by emeritus geology professor and wine lover Alex Maltman. Olly Smith’s zippily entertaining and winningly illustrated WINE: Everything You Need to Know is the one I’d give to any budding oenophile.
When it really comes down to it, though, what we wine lovers want most of all is more of the thing itself. And, like all the best gifts, the best wine gifts are either something the recipient wouldn’t have thought to buy themselves, or something they’ve long wanted but can’t afford. Two that fit the first, “surprise me” category might be Land of Saints Chardonnay, Santa Barbara County, California 2024 (£25.50, leaandsandeman.co.uk), a luminous example of the fresher, modern Californian chardonnay that’s far removed from the syrupy stereotype of the style; and Vignoble du Rêveur Rien ne Bouge, Alsace 2023 (£22, thewinesociety.com), a gloriously silky, utterly unusual pink combination of the rose-fragrant gewürztraminer white variety with red pinot noir. For a more traditional choice, meanwhile, the Co-op has a couple of classic clarets from a great Bordeaux vintage in the shape of Château Beau-Site St-Estèphe 2019 (£25) and Chateau Bel Air Gloria (£17.50), and Waitrose has the nervy-tangy golden dessert wine Royal Tokaji Company Blue Label 5 Puttonyos, Tokaj, Hungary 2018 – a luscious, sweet treat that, in the dinky 25cl serving (£16.95), would be a regal stocking filler for even the most casual wine drinker.