This coming Thursday marks the second in a string of four American holidays, where we’ll all be seguing from Halloween’s Largo to Thanksgiving’s Andante, then right into a musical Vivance with Friday’s holidaze of shopping madness.
So, as you head to your computer keyboards (no pushing or pulling for us!), here are a few things on my list for wine item giving. My family will tell you I’m a big book giving person, having surrounded myself with them. I love (and need) to have instant reference access. Also, the Internet didn’t turn into what some of us thought it would; i.e., all books would become instantly available on the World Wide Web… That won’t happen until sites can find a way to secure the info from being downloaded and instantly disseminated, similar to the nightmare that the music industry has had to face. That makes books even more important for me, now.
My favorite list of books for this season of gift giving are the following (alphabetically, because they’re all Number One in my Dewy decimal system):
- Concannon, The First One Hundred and Twenty Five Years (Jim Concannon’s reflections on his life in the wine business, as told by Tim Patterson, with images from world renowned photographer Andy Katz. It’s coffee table size, and it’s gorgeous!)
- First big crush (Eric Arnold gets his feet wet with grape juice with this one, and is my year’s love affair. Eric’s adventures into the wine business begin with a harvest down under, and his detailed journaling will not only inform you, but he also greatly entertains his readers.)
- New Classic Winemakers of California (Wine critic Steve Heimoff has another hit on his hands, and has great interviews with the new media darlings. Who doesn’t love intimate details of successful people?)
- The Simple & Savvy Wine Guide (Author Leslie Sbrocco makes buying, pairing, and sharing for all a simple, demystifying process. It’s a great resource!)
- To Cork or Not to Cork (George M. Taber has an engaging writing style, and although I still haven’t finished this one, I don’t need to in order to say that this is for any serious wine lover who also treasures books, as I do.) I’ll have more on this one when I finish the book, but I already know it’s worth it’s salt from what I’ve read so far.
All of these books are available on Amazon.com.
Moving beyond the book library, into wine library…
First: Art for art’s sake is my take on a new fandangled wine rack object. It’s called “The Wine Tube.” This one is more for bottles that you’ll be accessing for every day enjoyment, or even storing those Château Lafite Rothschild after a wild night of partying, when you just can’t let go of the memory… So, up on the wall it goes! Who hasn’t got a few of those bottles stored here, there, and everywhere?
Found on Wine-Wall.com, this is for the person who seems to have everything. Why not make the person’s life complete? It’s an ingenious device. This Website’s also the place to go when you’re looking for wine doodads and phooferettes as stocking stuffers.
Second: For the serious connoisseur of life’s finer objects… This is for the serious among us. Not something easily shipped, it will amaze your recipient. For now, give a picture of what it will be, once created, and dazzle your loved one. For me, this is a woman’s answer to giving back to someone who would flood you in diamonds. For a guy, give it to the woman in your life who treasures the wine collection as much as you do!
Dalst Stone Wine Cellars wine alcoves are for anyone contemplating a wine storage unit to be built in 2008. These stone alcoves remind me of the days when King Arthur and his Knights pulled wine from their catacombs. The white stone symmetry, clean smooth lines, and cooling effect of the stone for bottle protection is a masterful solution to where all those rare (full) bottles belong. It would be a beautiful gift for someone really serious about wine, and a great solution for how to not only showcase, but also protect an expensive collection.
Happy Thanksgiving to you this coming Thursday!
And then… Enjoy this coming Friday while shopping on line, eating your leftovers, and avoiding those Vivance crowds! Personally, I’ll be curling up with To Cork or Not to Cork, because the phones won’t be ringing off the hook!
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