Gifts for the wine connoisseur: 9 things they'll actually use
From a proper corkscrew to a fridge that keeps their Barolo happy: nine gifts for the friend who knows more about wine than you do.
Buying for someone who knows more about wine than you is frightening. They already own a corkscrew, they have opinions about glass shapes, and a random bottle from the shop may end up in the risotto. So I asked my wine friends here in Piedmont what they reach for every week, and what they would never buy for themselves.
Everything on this list gets used, in the cellar or at the dinner table. Prices run from a stocking filler to a proper splurge, and they are rough guides in kronor. If you want to add a bottle, my guide to Piedmont wines will help you choose something they will remember.
Guide: piedmont wines
The picks
Nine gifts for the wine lover
- Champagne stoppers (about 100 kr): A pair of hinged stoppers keeps the bubbles in an opened bottle until the next evening. Cheap, useful, and they always vanish from the drawer after New Year.
- A tasting notebook and pencil: I write down every bottle I love: who made it, what we ate, who was at the table. Years later it is the best diary I own.
- A double-hinged waiter's friend (about 200 kr): The corkscrew every sommelier carries. The two-step lever lifts old, crumbly corks gently, and nobody ever has too many.
- Bottle neck tags for the cellar (about 100 kr): A pack of tags so they can read the vintage and producer without pulling every bottle from the rack. Boring, until you own forty bottles.
- The World Atlas of Wine: The maps make sense of every label they own. It is the book that stays open on the kitchen table all winter.
- A pair of Riedel glasses (about 600 to 800 kr a pair): One pair of thin-rimmed glasses shaped for the grape they love most. A Nebbiolo glass for a Barolo fan is a very kind gift.
- A hand-blown decanter (about 500 to 1,000 kr): For young Barolo that needs air, or an old bottle with sediment. Choose a simple shape; it is easier to clean and lives longer.
- A Coravin: It pours a glass through the cork and protects the rest with argon, so the bottle keeps for weeks. Perfect for someone who wants something special on a Tuesday.
- A small wine fridge (from about 3,000 kr): Most Nordic homes are warm and dry in winter, and that ages wine too fast. A fridge holding a steady 12 °C gives their good bottles a proper home.
Guide: decanting wine
Something homemade
Make a big Weck jar of red wine poached pears. Use a fruity Barbera, plenty of cinnamon and clove, and a strip of orange peel, then pack the pears upright in their dark syrup. Keep the jar in the fridge and tell them to eat it within five days, warm or cold, with a spoon of mascarpone.
Give it with a bottle of the same wine beside it. It looks like you planned for months.
Recipe: red wine poached pears
Bella's tip: Wrap the bottle in a linen tea towel and tie it with kitchen string. It looks lovely under the tree, and they get a useful towel.
