Wine lovers are easy to buy presents for, as a bottle of wine is always appreciated – especially if it’s something you yourself really love. But if that feels too predictable, too pressured, or just isn’t the right thing, here are some options. Everything on here is something we ourselves – certified wine lovers with homes full of bottles and corkscrews – would love to receive.
Accoutrements
Foil cutters
It may not sound exciting, but a foil cutter makes opening a bottle faster and easier. Nick likes a red foil cutter because it’s easy to find in a cluttered utensil draw; Julia finds that ‘the best foil cutter is a new one. I was scolding my old Le Creuset model – plastic prongs enclosing four little metal cutting wheels – for not doing its job until I realised how old it was (at least seven years of professional over-use). The replacement is excellent: one twist with a light grip and the foil is neatly off.’
A clever decanter/preservation system
Richard recommends the eto, a wine preservation system and decanter all in one, even more enthusiastically than he did last year, thanks to their new, larger, redesigned model.
Wine glasses
We’re biased, but we’ve also put the JR x RB wine glasses to the test by relying on them for all our tastings. Thin-lipped, elegantly proportioned, delicate to the touch yet sturdy enough to run through the dishwasher, we really can’t recommend them highly enough. Pro tip: members of JancisRobinson.com can find a discount code in our forum!
Notebooks
How to remember what you’ve tasted? Write it down! The hardback notebooks from MOO are lovely because they lay flat, and have a ribbon for keeping your place.
Not your usual corkscrew
As Julia says, the Durand is not cheap but this well-engineered solution to removing old, crumbly corks is like having a fire extinguisher in the house: when you need one, you’re very glad you splashed out. Beware, trying to use it on a cork that does not need it will lead to failure because you can’t squeeze the prongs down the sides and at that point you are already committed.
A way to drink wine without opening the bottle
A Coravin allows you to do away with the corkscrew entirely, as you can just use this tool to siphon out a glass of wine without even opening the bottle. Handy for the curious or if there’s just one wine drinker in the home; essential for the student of wine. It comes in a version suitable for sparkling wine, too.
A special sieve
Richard suggests Birchgrove’s by-the-glass filter with drip tray for the truly hardcore home wine enthusiast; it’s what 67 Pall Mall use to filter sediment from every glass of wine they serve. It’s especially handy if you have a Coravin (see above).
Food
Cheese
Now that our staff cheese maven, Ben Colvill, has a monthly column on cheese-and-wine pairing, we can’t get enough cheese.
In the UK, Tam recommends The Courtyard Dairy, ‘which is run by a couple who champion British cheeses, small cheese producers and seasonal cheese’.
In NY, Tara favours Saxelby Cheesemongers, an all-American cheese shop with a philanthropic bent, with a charity fund set up to provide paid farm apprenticeships for young people to live and learn on sustainable farms.
Olive oils
Citizens of Soil offers an olive-oil subscription, with all the oils coming from small family farms. It’s another delicious way to study the intersection of variety and place.
Chillies
Just like there are endless varieties of grapes, there are endless varieties of chillies. Cool Chile Co, started by Dodie Miller in 1993 out of a stall in Portobello Market, carries an immense array, plus corn tortillas made from masa harina she imports from Mexico. What’s this got to do with wine? When your chillies have this much complex flavour – not just heat – they marry well with a nice spicy Syrah or other juicy red. Try it!
Peanuts
Julia recently replaced her usual salted almonds, hickory-smoked cashews and dry-roasted macadamias with Hubs Virginia salted peanuts.
As she explains, ‘Tara introduced us to the best peanuts we have ever tasted when she hand-carried a 32-oz can to London last month. They may not be available outside the US and they might be the most expensive peanuts I’ve come across but they are utterly addictive and turn an everyday snack into an amazing gift.’
Farm share
With rising prices for seed, machinery, fuel and rent and a shrinking labour pool, farming has become incredibly difficult. You can make a real difference in your local economy by signing yourself or a friend up for a farm share. Find a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm near you in the UK or in the USA.
Books
Knowledge and inspiration are gifts that last. We strive to provide plenty of both at JancisRobinson.com, where a year’s membership costs less than your average case of wine and includes access to two seminal wine books, thousands of wine recommendations, daily deep dives into regions, varieties and techniques, and entry into a friendly, supportive and extremely well-informed community of fellow wine lovers. And right now, to celebrate our 25th anniversary, gift memberships are 25% off. But if your friends already have a membership, then how about any of the many books reviewed by Tam? Or …
The Oxford Companion to Wine, 5th edition is the comprehensive reference, thoroughly updated by a team of experts led by our own Julia Harding MW with Tara Q Thomas and founding editor Jancis Robinson. Drop us a line at [email protected] if you’d like a signed bookplate for your copy.
Wine Grapes remains the most comprehensive guide to wine grapes available, and is a fascinating, gorgeously illustrated read to boot.
The 24-Hour Wine Expert by Jancis Robinson distils all you need to know to enjoy wine fully into a quick, easy read.
Not exactly a book, though a 145-page wine guide is included, the BBC Maestro course Jancis Robinson: An understanding of wine could make a great gift. For £79 the recipient will have a year’s access to 27 lessons comprising 6 hours of learning about wine.
Wine & The Food of Asia by our own Richard Hemming MW is a ground-breaking volume dedicated to pairing wine with a vast array of Asian cuisines. And while Richard offers us much of his wisdom in his monthly column on the topic, you need the book to get into the nitty-gritty details – and for the all-important recipes.
A donation to a good cause
With falling wine sales and rising prices, it’s a challenging time to be in the wine business. A donation to any of the many organisations that have been set up to help people working in hospitality and wine is a strong way to show your support. These two are particularly close to our hearts.
The Gérard Basset Foundation, founded in honour of the late, great French-born, English sommelier and of which Jancis is a trustee, is mandated to increase the accessibility and diversity of the wine world through educational support and community programmes in countries around the world.
¡Salud!’s work in bringing healthcare to vineyard workers in Oregon, where our editor Sam Cole-Johnson lives, has never been more critical.
Photo at top of The Jancis Robinson Collection glassware courtesy Richard Brendon; all other photos courtesy their respective companies save for foil cutters and peanuts (by Julia) and Oxford Companion/Wine Grapes (by Tara).
What’s on your wish list? We’d love to hear about it. Just send a note to us at [email protected] or share it on the forum.
