Wine Lover’s Annual Holiday Gift Giving Guide

Each year I look around area wine shops, gift shops, and tasting rooms to find gifts for the wine lover on your list. As I shop, it is always evident that there are a bunch of stocking stuffer type gifts, and then a huge leap to gifts for those you REALLY love. I’m going to try and give you a little of each.

I called Donna Bellinger at Bellinger Farms in South Hermiston. Donna is offering some great wine gift baskets again this year. Staff will build the basket for you, or you can do like I’ve done many times over the past few years and pick out your wines, foods, and other little gifts you want in the basket and have them wrap and decorate it for you. They do a fantastic job and the prices can run from very mild to wild depending on what you want.

Carol and Ken are once again ready this year to help you do Christmas right. Their selection of wines always grows to its fullest this time of year. And, for your non wine drinking friends this year the beer selection is just as big. Gift packs are a great thing at Great Pacific. I recommend having them pull some fun wines from around the world for you and pack them up.

Great Pacific and Bellingers both offer several openers, tools, and aerators that all make great low-priced gifts and stocking stuffers. My feeling is that you can never have too many openers. I personally like waiter type corkscrews, but there is every type under the sun, from electric to gas propelled.

For a little more money here’s an idea. Something that I just found out about this week is from my friend Frank at First Priority in Kennewick. He has full service limousine wine tours available for $350 each. My wife and I have gone on these with friends many times and had an absolute blast. At this price it is definitely a steal of a deal. This price includes a 5 hour service from Tri-Cities to anywhere in Eastern Washington. Call Frank at 509-531-3589.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, something that can not be overrated is good education. Education comes in many forms here are some things that I’ve enjoyed and I know others will as well. First, the Wine 101 course at Graybeal Distributing this year was a blast! You might reach out to them and see what is on for this winter/spring season.

The next educational gift that I suggest is reading material. There are many good magazines out there. Wine Press Northwest covers the region very well and is printed locally. Sip Magazine Northwest out of Seattle is a glossy, beautiful magazine that also covers wine here in the region.

For a more global perspective you might give your wine lover a subscription to Wine Spectator, Wine and Food, or Wine Enthusiast. One thing I will warn you about though is the International and national magazines cost a lot more than the regionally focused ones, and you won’t find much information on wines you can actually buy here in our part of the world.

What ever you buy your friend, lover, or coworker this year all I know is that you can’t go wrong with wine.

Enjoy!