It’s Christmas Eve and you still haven’t bought a gift for someone you’ll see today or tomorrow. Well that’s a problem, isn’t it? You can either try your luck at the mall or run into a wine shop and pick up a bottle. But what to get?

If you know what the person likes to drink, then it should be easy — assuming you can find that wine in the store. But what if you don’t?

Here’s an idea — buy a wine that the person likely wouldn’t buy for himself or herself, but might enjoy. Re-read that last part of the sentence; you don’t want to get a Napa Cab for someone you usually prefers to drink a light Pinot Grigio.

What you buy depends on what you want to spend — and whether you want the other person to know how much you spent. For example, if you buy a very well-known brand such as Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, your recipient will know that you spent about thirty bucks. Or if you buy a bottle of Opus One, the giftee knows you pulled out a Benjamin. Personally, I think buying a well-known brand is akin to leaving the price tag on a gift — but the choice is yours.

Instead, choose a wine variety or region that you know your recipient enjoys (i.e., Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chianti, Rioja, etc.) but get something a little off-the-wall, from a different region, and / or in a higher price range from what your friend normally would drink. For example, if your friend is a big fan of California Pinot Noir, get a bottle of French Pinot Noir. Or if he/she usually drinks a specific brand of Chianti Classico, choose one from a different winery in the same or higher price range. Gifting is all about getting something that the recipient normally wouldn’t buy for himself / herself — and you may introduce the person to a new favorite wine.

But what if you have absolutely no idea what kind of wine your giftee drinks? Take the easy way out — buy a bottle of bubbly. If you are willing to spend the ducats, get “real” Champagne from France — there are wonderful non-vintage examples in the $25-30 range from respected houses such as Pommery, Moet et Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Nicolas Feuillatte, and others (one of my favorites is Heidsieck Monopole “Blue Top”, if you’re buying for me). Nearly everyone who drinks wine appreciates a bottle of good Champagne — and even if they don’t, they’ll have something to bring with them to the New Year’s bash next week.

Now if you have absolutely no idea what wine to get, and know for sure the person won’t appreciate Champagne (I suppose it’s possible?), then the next-best gift would be either a really fancy corkscrew — such as by Laguiole — or a set of high-quality lead crystal wine glasses (such as made by Riedel). With these high-ticket items, you generally will get what you pay for, and nearly every good wine shop will carry them. When it comes to the glasses, you might even consider getting one very expensive hand-blown glass — something like this Riedel Sommeliers Series Bordeaux Grand Cru. No doubt your wine geek will be thrilled with such a gift — how many people will spend upward of $75 for a wine glass? — and guard it safely in the china closet.

Last but not least, if you don’t want to go to ANY store, I have one last-minute idea — a gift certificate to Restaurant.com. All you do is visit the site, buy the gift certificate, and print it out. Since most wine geeks are also “foodies”, treating him or her to a dinner at a fine restaurant is just as good, if not better, than a bottle of wine. Follow the link below for a crazy deal — THREE BUCKS for a $25 gift certificate. You read that right. Merry Christmas:

70% off sale at Restaurant.com. Purchase $25 Gift Certificates for only $3.00 with coupon code GIFTS!

These gifts were big hits with some wine geeks last year, so I’m presenting them again …

(click on images to learn more or buy)

This 7-item Accessory Gift Set ($55) has just about everything a wannabe snob could wish for, all encased in a fancy wood box. It includes a “patented” one-hand cork screw, thermometer, stainless steel stopper, foil cutter, wine ring, pourer, and bottle cap. Good for someone who often entertains wine drinkers and has one of those wine bar thingys in the home.

The MetroKane Houdini Wine and Stuff

($40) set’s centerpiece item is the Houdini corkscrew, which is a variation on the Leverpull and Rabbit cork removers. It also has a foilcutter, drip-stop ring, wine sealer, identification tags, metal whacker, and extra spiral screw. All nice pieces for the wine geek in your life.

Not sure what to get for the foodie in your life? The easy answer is a gift certificate to a fancy restaurant, of course. But how do you know if the recipient will appreciate a specific restaurant of your choosing? There’s an answer for that too — get a gift certificate from someone like Restaurant.com, where the giftee can redeem the gift at any of several thousand restaurants.

Now, I’ve got one better for you — a gift certificate worth $25 that costs YOU only $5. How’s that for a bargain?

The catch (there’s always a catch) is that you MUST use the link below and use it between now and December 13th. It’s a limited-time offer for WineWeekly visitors, so take advantage while you can. In addition, anything you buy at Restaurant.com through that link will be 50% off. Too good to be true? Maybe, but it seemed too good for me not to share. Enjoy!

50% off sale for 3 days only, December 10th-13th! Use code STOCKING at check out.

It’s that time of year again … time to find gifts for the wine geek in your life (or for yourself!). Let’s start out with some interesting wine gifts for wine service. In our first installment, I offer you two different devices to monitor the temperature of wine bottles. (By the way, you can click on the link or picture to buy the item directly from Amazon … and help pay the server bills for this website in the process — so you’ll be giving two gifts at once!)

Wine Clip Thermomenter
$15 or less

More than half of the wine bottles you pick up have a “recommended serving temperature” stated on the back label. But does anyone notice? Does anyone care? Even if you did, how would you go about finding out the exact temperature of the wine in your bottle? I suppose you could try sticking a meat thermometer into the bottle, but that would require uncorking, and few of those read below 100 degrees anyway. The cheapo trick is to stick an aquarium thermometer on the side, but that isn’t so “cool”.

Enter the Wine Clip Thermometer, which does look cool (or “qool”, as my friend Tish would say), and works quite well. You simply clasp the thing around the middle of the bottle and it gives you a digital readout of the temperature.

Wine Maestro — Bonjour products ($20 and under)

If the bangle isn’t high-tech enough for your wine geek gadget guy/girl, then maybe the Wine Maestro is. I haven’t tested it out myself, but it sure looks formidable.

And if you want to get really insane, go infra-red. (over $40)

VinTemp Infrared Wine Thermometer
This handy little pen-like device comes with its own carrying case and has real James Bond appeal. Plus, it’s better than the other devices, because the infrared light is able to detect the temperature of the wine INSIDE the bottle, WITHOUT removing the cork. And for some people, that’s really important. I have visions of geeks walking around wine tastings pointing their infrared pens and informing vendors that their bottles are too cold / too warm. Lovely. (BTW, I have this myself and love it.)

Oh, and to go one further, you can get the VinTemp thermometer built into a corkscrew. Now THAT is efficiency — one device to both check the temperature and open the bottle when it reaches the optimum chill. It’s not cheap — about $60 — but remember, holiday gift-giving is about a.) buying things that the recipient likely wouldn’t buy for herself / himself; b) giving something unique; and c) giving something close to the recipient’s heart. And if your giftee is passionate about wine, then this item is a no-brainer.

Keep checking back over the next few weeks, as I’ll be posting more interesting and unusual gifts that will be especially appreciated by the wine geek in your life.