What to give a wine lover? It can be difficult to choose a bottle for a fanatic. How can an outsider judge a connoisseur’s taste or identify the holes in their cellar? I can say, however, that for wine insiders, bottles of deluxe champagne are the gift currency of choice. Krug Grande Cuvée or Dom Pérignon are standard issue, but if you would rather favour a family-owned enterprise then consider Roederer Cristal, Bollinger Grande Année or one of Selosse’s winey champagnes.
Those shopping in London could take advantage of the special offer in Selfridges’ wine department on Fridays and Saturdays up to Christmas Eve. You can buy Moët’s new, drier, considerably improved, standard non-vintage blend (called Brut Impérial; the old White Star bottling that used to be sold in the US is no more) in bottles, magnums (containing the equivalent of two bottles), jeroboams (four bottles’ worth) or methusalehs (eight) and have them “personalised with a festive illustration and message written in gold calligraphy and accented with Swarovski crystals”.
But you may wish to give something more durable than a bottle of wine, however sparkling its accent. The new toy of the season for serious wine collectors is a Pourvin Light (pourvin.com), a battery-powered gadget designed by an Australian couple that you hang round a bottle neck to provide a strong light under the bottle to highlight the sediment during the decanting process. (Or, you could buy them a candle, and save yourself £50 for the silicone version and £130 for the stainless steel model, though this is unlikely to satisfy the gadget lover.)