Only one week and Festivus will be upon us. Two days after that, and it’s Christmas. And then, we have only 361 days until Hanukkah!
Are you desperately scratching around for gifts? Wine is handy for hard-to-buy-for acquaintances (as my friend Natalie Maclean has observed), but it also does the trick for spouses and parents. After all, around the holiday season, when we all spend so much time with our families, there is no better present than the anesthetising power of alcohol.
Here are the Short Cellar’s top picks for last minute gifts:
Penderyn Single Malt, Wales
($89.95, Vintages #11577 [Ed. Note: No longer available])
Single Malt Scotch is my customary gift for those I love or fear. However, after a while, all the Glen Something-or-others blur together. Wales’s only Single Malt not only has great novelty value; it’s also a superb whisky. The style is silky and spicy, without the heavy hand of peat. Sweet fruit and buttery notes alternate across the tongue, leaving an overall impression of balance and class. 94/100
Quinta de Ventozelo Reserve Port, Douro, Portugal
($14.40, Vintages #1411028)
When it comes to gift giving, I find a bottle of port has more gravitas than your average table wine. The Quinta de Ventozelo has the added advantage of being cheap without tasting like it. It’s soft and rounded without being sweet or insipid. It offers a fresh burst of blueberry fruit, complemented with an undercurrent of vanilla bean. I would be proud to present it at any Christmas party. 90/100
Hidden Bench 2007 Estate Chardonnay, VQA Beamsville Bench
($35.20, Vintages #068817 [Ed. Note: No longer available])
This fantastic bottle can do double duty as a present and/or as an accompaniment to turkey dinner. It’s also one of the last chances you will get to taste 2007, a banner year for Chardonnay in Ontario. The best grapes of this vintage were intense and acidic, and as a result many winemakers (like Hidden Bench) were not afraid to imbue them with a lot of oak influence. The results are wines with lots of longevity and complexity. In fact, this spicy and nutty Chardonnay will only improve if you choose to open it at Christmas 2011 or 2012. 91/100
Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt 2003 Riesling Spätlese , Moselle/Saar/Ruwer, Germany
($21.95, Vintages #712471 [Ed. Note: No longer available])
A bottle with a little bit of age on it is another way to lend a simple and inexpensive gift a little bit of oomph. This lovely Riesling opens with a classic Teutonic nose of rubber, mineral and apples. The palate is mellow, rich and extremely well-integrated. This is a charming bottle which any wine writer would be happy to receive from his army of appreciative readers. 90/100
Matthew Sullivan is a civil litigator in Toronto. He blogs weekly here on lawandstyle.ca. The Short Cellar column also appears in the print edition of Precedent. Matthew can be reached at matthew@lawandstyle.beta-site.ca. Follow along on Twitter: @shortcellar.
Photo by Anja Leidel