Recommendations please for some nice wines I can give to mum and dad for Xmas

[Mum2Ela]

My mum and dad have quite literally everything and so for this Christmas I thought I would buy a planter / wicker basket-thing and fill it with wines and accessories for them.

They like wine a lot!

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Also, do you think this is a good idea, and can you think of any ways I can make it a bit more 'special'?

x

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What sort of wine do they like? Do you know what they drink already?

How about joining a wine club for them, they'd then receive a selection of wines plus have the opportunity to go wine tasting? something like the Sunday Times wine club? www.sundaytimeswineclub.co.uk
BTW dh's favourite is barolo - v.rich red

my favourite wine is oyster bay sauvigon blanc which is very nice and about 8 quid a bottle. but you can't go wrong with a nice french, maybe chateaux neuf du pape.

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They like red and white. They drink Chablis, Rioja, Merlot (maybe?). Excuse the spellings!

Littlemissbossy - they already are members of the Sunday Times Wine Club and another one (can't remember which).

ah - well they have nice wine related gift ideas on www.winegiftcentre.com if you're interested

How about Chateu neuf du pape (red) and Sancerre (white)

My dh swears by Neil Ellis (S. african vineyard). He splashes out when there is a special occasion. Even I can taste that they are good. He is also babbling about buying things 'en primeur' whatever that means. I quite like pouilly fume when I am feeling pretentious!

Faustino 1 (i THINK it's a rioja) is just gorgeous, a little pricy at £15.00 bur most definatly worth it

IMHO the best white going is the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc - here - only available in small quantities, so there's a rush in November/December when it comes out. Their vintage sparkling (Pelorus) also knocks most champagnes into a cocked hat.

PS it's a great idea - M&FIL got us a mixed case of Cloudy Bay wines last Christmas - best pressie ever!

Rioja (Muga or Marques de Caceras are really nice)
Rueda (a white rioja - dry but full of flavour - lovely!)

Meant to say the Rioja Muga will probably be more expensive than the Marques de Caceras. Just cracked open a bottle of 1998 Muga - will tell you if it's a good year in half an hour or so

Had a delicious red the other day, it was South American I think, Tempranillo (sp?). Why not do the wicker basket thing with a couple of bottles, glasses, and some up-market foody things - pate, chocs, fudge?

Totally unbiased kiwi opinion but if you can lay your hands on a South Island Pinot Noir you will have one of the best (and rarer) wines avaliable. Apparantly Waiheke Island reds are avaliable in the UK, though I've never seen one. The really are the best thing I've ever tasted - especially ones from the Mudbrick Vinyard.

For cheaper and more accessable, anything from Norton, a Chiliean producer, is usually very drinkable. Their 2000 Malbec is fantastic.

Thanks for all the recommendations - keep 'em coming!

I'll be able to print this list out and do noice wine shopping and everything will think I am posh!

x

on the rioja front Marques de Riscal is delicious

What about some Prosecco? Delicious stuff!

Hi Mum2Ela,

Guess one of the questions to ask would be - How much do you want to spend? In my view all the wines that people have mentioned would be candidates. I love my wine (and have spent considerable amounts drinking and learning about it) and whenever my mum is looking for a present for me, I tell her to 'pop in to Oddbins' with a tenner and get a bottle -'cos at that price, they are all good. (These days tho' Oddbins selection ain't what it used to be.........). So depending on what you want to spend - fr'instance, £60 could buy a 'drinking case' or 4 x really good bottles, The other thing to think about is 'Who are they going to drink the wine with?' My in-laws are terrible ones for drinking all my best wines and then fobbing me off with their Chateau Box.....so might be an idea to think about giving them something that you like too. On the 'special' thing - all sorts of ideas here, but again depends on how much you want to pay. Some ideas

1. Buy a case (12 bottles) of good wine for drinking over the next 5 or 6 years - a couple of bottles each year, to see how it develops.

2. Any special YEARS in their history - buy a bottle of wine from that.

3. Any special countries that they like visiting - concentrate on that.

4. Say some bubbly - doesn't need to be Champagne - someone mentioned Cloudy Bay above - they make an ace Bubbly called Pelorus - at 50% of decent Champagne.

5. Something a bit different, like a Vintage Port, which should be drunk in one sitting, rather than kept on the Sideboard for months on end (going stale)

Lots more ideas.......maybe could start honing them with a wee bit more info from you.

Another vote for Rioja here - especically grand reservas so either the 1994 Faustino 1 or something from marque de Caceras (which other people have mentinoed already).

A french favourite - why not try a Crozes Hermitage especially from M. Chapoutier - fantastic stuff.

Ooh there's just so much to choose from and I think your idea to get them something like this is brilliant!

saomething from Wolf Blass

i found a list on the wines-france.com website all chosen by top wine columnists. theres a whole bundle of best choices....yuo could do worse than start here
Cheers!

I've used this wine company who are superb.

From that wine website that I gave tou they do port, whiskey and champagne as well and you can buy a bottle from the year they met, got married, had you, whatever. Each bottle comes in a lovely wooden box with storage notes if they want to keep it for longer and they send you a note when it has arrived. They really are great.

Or if they have a favourite movie and like nibbles and drink then this movie hamper website is good