Last year, I did a wine lover’s gift guide with 12 Days of Christmas with wine related gifts:

• 12 Months of Green Wine
• 11 Wines in a Wine Fridge,
• 10 Coravin pieces,
• 9 Cheeses in a Cheese Grotto,
• 8 Bottles of Bubbles,
• 7 Winning Wine Clubs,
• 6 Gorgeous Glasses,
• 5 Organic Wine Guides, 
• 4 Wine Books,
• 3 Phone Soaps,
• 2 Festive Wines,
• and a Wine Calendar from Wine4Me!

This year?

I don’t want to have that song playing in my head incessantly so I’m leaving that task to others. For example, Hans Drinks Solo is doing 12 days of wine off the shelf videos which are fun and educational:

 

Crushed Grape Chronicles is doing 12 Days of Wine videos starting off with biodynamic Troon, a favorite winery, and Troon’s Fizzante, a bottle of bubbles which I bought when I visited in August and which keeps staring me down in my own house begging me to open it! I know if I put it in the wine fridge I will not be able to keep away!

 

This year, I’m just going to pop in here and there with some wine related gift ideas. But you better hurry with your order if you want wine or gifts to arrive before Christmas! (But Ventura area locals, I’ve got you covered, so keep scrolling!)

Many wineries put together special gift sets this time of year, and so I wanted to share a few with you– Washington’s L’Ecole, Oregon’s Brooks, California’s The Ojai Vineyard and Clos des Amis, plus wines from Italy shipping from southern California!

Let’s start with L’Ecole’s gift set of Old Vine Chenin Blanc (read about this wine here) and Syrah (which you can read about here) paired with flavorful chocolates designed to go with each! 

I’ve been an ambassador for L’Ecole this past year with a small group of wine writers, and I participated in a number of ZOOM events with staff and the winemaker. Fun! This gift box was the grand finale, and it included two of the wines I really loved. 

Next is a much smaller winery, but one that also offers exceptional value– Clos des Amis.  Ventura County locals can pick up Clos des Amis wines at this Friday’s Farmer’s Market in Santa Paula — or arrange for delivery or pick up between now and Friday.

Don’t forget they have Chambang! That’s the Clos des Amis sparkling wine made from chardonnay grapes grown just down the way from me in Ventura! Now that is an extra special gift for locals!

The Ojai Vineyard is also local for Venturans, and they features wines made from grapes grown in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. They have a few gifts to suggest including this three piece set of special bottlings.  Sue and I both have a few of these special wines in our collections — and they do not disappoint! Ventura area locals can pick up wine at the tasting room in downtown Ojai. 

In addition to Troon, favorite biodynamic and regenerative agriculture winery from Oregon is Brooks which also offers gift sets too, some with specialty items from Oregon.

And Brooks has bubbles!

Plus I had to show you this cute cork tree Brooks features because now I want to turn all of my corks into cute cork trees for next Christmas…

For the astronomy lover in your life, nothing beats the Brooks Eclipse wines! Read about them here. 

Finally from Italy, check out these three bottles of bubbles imported by VeroVino that come with free shipping on three bottles or more to the Western US and include a free professional stopper with all sparkling wine sets.  

While there are several sparkling wine gift sets, this is the one that caught my eye because I’m a big fan of two of the three wines, and while this Prosecco is new to me, I already know that DOCG Prosecco is so good (the difference is that it’s DOCG, and from a very special place to grow glare, the grape in Prosecco. Plus I trust Verovino owner Sheila’s palate enough to know that it must be really special if she’s importing it! 

This is a really interesting selection of Italian wines sure to please the Italian wine buff and someone new to Italian bubbly:

• Col del Balt | Sanzovo | Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Brut

> I’m looking forward to sampling and writing about this wine this week!

• Briamara | Berenice Erbaluce Traditional Method Sparkling Wine

> We wrote about this sparkling Erbaluce last year which you can read here

• Tomisa | Ciparisso Pignoletto Semi-Sparkling White Wine | Organic

> To read what we wrote about the Tomisa Fizzante Pignoletto, a Grechetto, click here. 

• Professional Champagne and Sparkling Wine Stopper | Made in Italy

> These are awesome to have on hand to keep the sparkling wine sparkling! 

For Ventura area locals, once again you’re in luck! You can swing by the Ventura warehouse and pick up your order saving money on shipping and time too for those last minute shoppers. And you know you need some of these Italian sparkling wines at your holiday gathering!

Locals can simply use the pickup option at check out, and since the warehouse is right off the freeway, that can be convenient if you’re passing though town.  If you order by Dec 22, you can pick it up by Dec 23 8am-4.30pm or on Christmas Eve Dec. 24 by noon. For New Year’s Eve order by Dec 29 to pick up Dec 30 8am-4.30pm or by New Year’s Eve Dec 31 by noon.

Stay tuned for more sparkling wines from Italy and from France with fun, festive finger foods!

May your holidays be sparkling! While I wish I was in the snow right now looking at it sparkle under the moonlight, we did get lots of rain here today and when the sun came out, the drops were sparkling! More rain and snow on the horizon!

Here’s to you and yours this holiday season!