Last Minute Gift Ideas to Wow the True Wine Connoisseur

 

Yes, people into wine are almost impossible to shop for because you, a normal person,  don’t have all that much time and inclination to devote to wine.

But if the wine person in your life truly appreciates fine wine and is not one of those nouveau snobs seeking out high-priced, faux-cult wines for bragging rights, then this buying tip is for you.

One online wine site I follow regularly comes up with spectacular, out of the ordinary choices, wines that are excellent but not your mainstream wines. Wines that hit the WOW factor and will have people asking,”where did you find that?”

Interested? Then

Check out:

http://www.sommselect.com

On December 15, it offered:

2014 CLOS DU MOULIN AUX MOINES, SAINT-ROMAIN, Cote de Beaune. This is a super red Burgundy from an unusual, make that esoteric place. Authentic, fabulous French Burgundy.

Another unusual wine offered earlier the week was the 2004 Morgon Domaine Calot, Vieilles Vignes

A wonderful Morgon like this at 15 years old would surprise and delight even the most jaded wine lover.

I also appreciate the fact that sommselect provides a ton of background information while avoiding the hype and silly comments found on most wine websites.

For instance, here’s what they say about that 2004 Morgon:

“We were shocked when they revealed this small stash of 2004, even more so when they told us why they were holding it back—because of sediment! They didn’t think customers and restaurants would want it! Well, we checked a bottle overseas and one more when it arrived at our warehouse. It’s exactly where any 15-year-old, unfined, unfiltered Burgundy would be! To avoid the little that is there, stand the bottle upright 24 hours prior to opening and then carefully decant (stopping when you see the “smoke,” or wisps of sediment) for about 15 minutes before serving at 60 degrees in Burgundy stems.”

“It has entered its peak drinking window but still has lots to offer over the next several years.”

Finally, these two examples and most wines from www.sommselect.com are reasonably priced. Reasonable to me means under $100 a bottle. Way under.

The Morgon is $30 a bottle with free shipping on 4.

So while others looking for great wines to buy are frantically going over lists and trying to make sense out of vintages and point scores, relax, go to www.sommselect.com and then buy something for yourself.

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Author: robywine, norm roby

My career as a wine journalist/critic began in 1975 when my article about California Petite Sirah was published. My focus remained on California as I edited a monthly wine magazine and then moved on to The Wine Spectator in 1982. Over the following years, my column appeared under the banner of “Stormin’ Norman, and I also wrote articles about wine collectors and wine auctions. Without getting into a year by year bio, let me try to summarize here. During my time with The Spectator which I enjoyed immensely, I taught wine classes at a culinary school and at other venues in San Francisco. Before venturing into wine, teaching was my thing, English Lit and Rhetoric. After The Spectator I was the U.S. Contributor to Decanter Magazine, writing mostly about California, but also expanding into Washington State and Oregon. My Decanter years began in 1992 and after buying a summer home in France in 2000, I traveled throughout France and eventually published articles about St. Emilion, Castillon, Bergerac, Minervois, Roussillon, Luberon, Provence, and Alsace. Also, around 2000, my wife began working for Cousino-Macul in Chile, so we tasted and traveled our way through Chile and, of course, managed to fly over the Andes and explore and taste our way through Argentina. As travel lovers, we have also spent many interesting days visiting the wine regions of Spain, Italy, Portugal, Scicily, Greece, and New Zealand. And to come to a close, I was Director of Winesong, a Charity Wine Auction for 20 years, 1992-2000 that benefitted a local hospital. That brought me in contact with wine collectors and to the auction scene. And finally, I co-authored a book, The Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine published by Alfred A. Knopf. It went through 4 editions and sold over 500.000 copies.

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