2016 Holiday Gift Guide: 11 perfect bottles for any wine lover on your list

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Wine is always an excellent great gift choice. No matter who you have to buy for, there’s always an appropriate wine, and matching wine and people is an excellent sport.

Here are 11 perfect bottles suitable for every kind of person on your holiday shopping list.

Your boss

The rule here is: Nothing too lavish. What could be more tragic than creating the impression that you are too well paid!? Go for something a little obscure – the ideal boss-gift would be one that reinforces the notion that you are resourceful, clever, indispensable, and clearly deserving of a raise. Something beautifully packaged and not yet cultish: Meyer Family Extra Brut Traditional Method from B.C. is a new stylish Chardonnay-Pinot Noir bubbly with lengthy bottle aging that tastes as impressive as it looks.

$43.99 at New District Dunbar Wine Shop

The insufferable know-it-all wine bore

Go for something obscure, hopefully unpronounceable, and definitely hard to find. Despite its pronounceability Chateau Musar from Lebanon fits the bill perfectly, and it also happens to be delicious. A bold red blend of from the arid, high altitude Bekaa Valley, it’s a remarkable triumph of human ambition.

$52.99 BCLDB

Something to impress at a dinner party

A good rule of thumb is always take bubbly: it will get opened first, when people are: a) thirsty and b) still interested, so your wine will be noticed and appreciated. Parés Baltà is an exceptional cava from Spain – a blend of three local Spanish grapes, made in the champagne method and it’s organic.

$23.99

Your Yoga teacher

What you need is something wholesome that pairs well with raw kale. Ok, just go with the wholesome. Haywire Switchback Pinot Gris: it’s organic, and it’s wild-fermented in egg-shaped concrete tanks, it’s cultish, and local. And also not bad with raw kale.

$26.99

Your dog walker or groomer

Something calming perhaps: how about Montes Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile – a silky, chocolaty cab with soft black fruit and a firm bite of tannins. Dry-farmed mature vines bring extra fruit depth, and made by the dog-loving Montes family.

$23.99 BCLDB (also at private wine shops)

A few of holiday 2016’s top picks in BC

A wine to match your magnificent ugly sweater

Prosecco is perfect for wacky good times. Soft, peachy, bubbly Luna Argento from Italy is just the ticket.

$18.50 to 19.99 at private stores like New District Wine Shop, Everything Wine, Marquis.

The No-Fail Turkey wine

Go with Old School and dignified: Lopez de Haro Rioja Reserva 2010 from Spain is a mellow, wood-burnished red that will take on the bird, stuffing, gravy and classic Christmas dinner side dishes. It’s a steal for the price point.

$21.99

The Big Meat Eater

A no-holds-barred red: Ridge Vineyards’ East Bench Zinfandel is a splurge, but deserving of your grass fed, dry aged, impeccably marbled prime roast. The East Bench is a single vineyard Zin grown on a hilltop in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley. Ridge also happens to be one of the greatest producers in the world – yes, in the world.

$55.99 at private stores including New District Dunbar Wine Shop

World’s greatest $20 Secret Santa gift

South America is always good value, but Altos las Hormigas Malbec Clàsico from Argentina is phenomenal value. It’s the pride of a superstar team in Mendoza who are dedicated to pushing the Malbec grape to new heights. Over-delivers, which is exactly what you want.

$17.99

Your father-in-law

A globally adored classic from a great producer is what you need for this important gentleman. Wynns Black Label Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon from South Australia is one of the greatest value wines on the planet.

$23 to $25 at private wine stores and the BCLDB

Your mother-in-law

A seriously delicious and gracious chardonnay: Coolshanagh (say cool-shan-ah) from the north end of the elite Naramata Bench. Rich and succulent with racy acidity and a gentle and nuanced touch of French oak that’s in perfect balance. A world-famous wine geologist has declared this vineyard to be one of the best limestone terroirs anywhere. You’ll sense that in the mineral structure of this glorious white.

$33.99