What to buy, and what not to buy, for the wine geek in your life

If you have a friend that’s developed a newfound fascination with all things wine, you may be tempted to jump in with both feet and get them a gift that you think they may need or enjoy.

The road to a bad outcome however is littered with good intentions.

I’ve had people purchase all manner of things that in the end seldom, if ever, get used. So it’s key to ask yourself a few questions:

• How closely have I monitored my friend's wine interest?

• What are their preferred wines?

• Are they a collector or just a hobbyist?

• How often do they talk about wine?

• What type of stemware do they use?

Without getting into the weeds, I’d like to offer a few suggestions that might just make the path to a successful gift that much easier. These are my recommendations based on decades of experience.

What not to buy

Screw cap wines are now the standard and they do a good job of keeping wine fresh but there are still many wines out there with cork so it’s important to know which opener to buy.

Avoid any larger lever openers such as the Rabbit. It does a very good job of opening your wine bottle but it’s cumbersome and in this day and age of shrinking living quarters, where do you store it? If your friend however has an actual wine cellar with a built in bar, then by all means.

Wine charms may have seemed like a godsend when they first came on the market, but I can assure you that these little baubles attached to your stemware seldom keep people from picking up the wrong glass at a party. Yes they can be attractive but one day you’ll open a drawer and wonder exactly what year they went missing.

Avoid any stemware that has what’s called a “rolled rim.” You’ve seen it and felt it and it’s almost exclusively found on stemware made of glass rather than crystal. There’s been much research on how the shape of your glass and the lip can affect the taste of your wine. For a wine fancier it’s a non-starter and it’s always best to go with a glass that has a “cut” or “sheer” rim. It’s flat with a smooth polish and allows for the wine to flow smoothly onto the palate.

Anything “gifty” with wine motifs, such as cheap tea towels with grapes printed on them, wine thermometers or those melted wine bottles meant to be used as cheese boards, it’s best to just ignore these items.

They might seem like a practical idea but wine stoppers, whether made with cork or metal bottoms, are another gift item that will seldom see use. Cork based stoppers will break off in short order leaving you with only the decorative top while the metal ones ribbed with rubber rings, are not even useful as a doorstop.

A wine lover will seldom have an open bottle requiring a stopper, for more than a day. If they do, they will keep it in the fridge and a fancy wine stopper will produce a bottle height that may be in excess of shelf height.

What to buy

If you want to get your wine friend a gift they will use, get a can of inert argon gas. You simply spray the gas into the partially filled bottle and a layer of gas will keep all oxygen from further degrading the wine. It’s also very important for any fancy spirits you wish to keep fresh.

There are all manner of wine bottle openers on the market, too many to cover in this piece but pictured here are three that will cover most scenarios. From left to right:

The Durand is a patented device that does a superb job of extracting brittle vintage corks. If you have a cork that has shredded while using your regular device, the Durand will safely remove the remaining cork without too much, if anything, falling into the bottle. It’s been a real savior on a number of occasions during vintage tastings.

The waiter's corkscrew is the standard. It’s easy to use and does a good job on most corks. If you are looking for a presentation piece as a gift, the Laguiole from France, fits the bill.

The final device is another classic. It sits on the opening of the neck and you twist the helix into the cork. Keep twisting in the same direction and eventually the cork lifts right out. This wine opener is useful for extracting synthetic corks or corks that have become fused to the inside of the neck without too much strain.

I will leave you with two books (pictured above) by the legendary wine writer and master of wine, Jancis Robinson. Both are highly recommended.

Vines, Grapes & Wines, is a must have for any budding or experienced wine lover. It covers hundreds of grape varieties, and the countries and regions in which they grow. There are maps and beautifully rendered hand drawn pictures along with descriptors of what to expect when tasting the wines. I’ve used this as a reference more times than I can recall.

How to Taste is another book that fits well into the learning cycle for both novice and moderately experienced wine aficionados. It covers assessing a wine, wine faults, spitting the wine, basic wine tastes such as acidity, bitterness, tannins, salt as well as types of oak, bottle size and a host of other things you didn’t think to ask.

Both books are still in print and available through Perfect Books on Elgin St.