With Christmas just around the corner here are some special gifts that have come across my desk.
Advent Calendars
These are catching on and are delightful way of spending your December days running up to and during Christmas. Or better still gift it to a friend.
Laithwaites Wine Advent Calendar
Laithwaites Australia have produced a delightfully packaged box/ house (see photo) with each of the 24 windows containing single serve piccolo wine bottle (187ml) of wines from Australia and around the globe. To top it off there is a half-bottle of fizz for Christmas Eve! It’s a lovely way to make the month special as well as taste a wide range of wines. Wines include Prosecco, French, Italian and Portuguese reds as well as Australian wines.
Click here
Heathcote 12 days of Christmas Wine Calendar
You could then continue the festive spirit with the Heathcote Women in Wine’s 12 days of Christmas Wine Calendar. This generous Wine Calendar includes 12 individual half bottles (375ml) from five of the Heathcote’s most celebrated producers:
- Sanguine Estate
- Silver Spoon Estate
- Munari Wines
- Farmer & The Scientist
- Tar & Roses
The wines cover 5 whites, rosés, Mediterranean and traditional reds. Tasting notes are included and the selection features award winning wines and current releases. The idea is to open one a day from the 25th December, but that’s completely up to you!
For more information check out their Facebook page
An essential home Christmas decoration is now a wine calendar!
Drink a museum of wine
Leading Hunter Valley winemaker Andrew Thomas (below) has delved into the crevasses of his vast cellar and pulled out a vertical six-pack of Hunter Valley /McLaren Vale Shiraz blend (now known as Two of a Kind Shiraz). Two bottles each of 1999, 2000, and 2001 vintages. In addition he has a small amount of 20 year old wines from 2002 vintage of the same wine. There is nothing like drinking wines from the last century!
Go to their website for details
Henschke Riedel Glassware
There are plenty of glass and bottle sets on the market but one of the most stylish is from Henschke with two branded glasses and a choice of wines to put into the box. You can check out what I recommend from their range on this website under ‘reviews’.
Go to their gift section
The ultimate wine gift for Christmas
Purchasing a 100 year old drinkable wine is a rare gift and we are lucky to have the Seppeltsfield 1878 Centennial Cellar of barrels in the Barossa Valley. The 1922 100 Year Old Para Vintage Tawny is being sold in 100ml format – hand filled to order, individually numbered and authenticated for collection purposes. Presented in a Jarrah timber gift box with a certificate that can be personalised, it is priced at $1,500 a bottle.
You can also choose a $10,000 Lalique Decanter which holds a Para Tawny blend of twelve different vintages between 1886 and 1970. The decanter comes in special presentation case made by Barossa Valley craftsman Andrew Pywell from recommissioned 300 year-old Australian Jarrah timbers (once wine spirit vats).
Visit their site or better still have a trip to the Barossa and pick it up in person.
