What is a good bottle of Wine for a wedding gift?
It is for my Brother & Sister in law (To be) They are wine drinkers & I want to buy them a nce bottle, Under 300.00
Tagged with: amp • brother • sister in law • wine drinkers
Filed under: All Things Wine
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As a sommelier, I get questions like this fairly often.
First of all, the idea of getting them something from the same vintage (ie, year) of their wedding is nice, but not practical. Vintage dates on the bottle correspond to the year of the harvest. If they’re getting married this year, the wines from 2009 will not be released until next year if it’s a simple white wine, and not for several years if it’s a red wine. The one exception to this is if you were to choose a simple white white from the southern hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand) because their seasons are reversed and some of their 2009 sauvignon blancs will be released before the end of 2009. But these wines are hardly considered "special."
Now that we’ve gotten the vintage issue out of the way…
Again, I get this question often and really you have to know a little about their "wine personalities." In other words, what do they like to drink and what are their wine habits? Most people do not hold on to wine for very long and are not inclined to age wine — or they don’t have the proper storage conditions to hold / age wine.
Your best bet is to find out a little about what they like to drink, whether or not they like older mature wines, whether or not they age wine, etc…. and then seek the advice of a salesperson in your local wine shop (not grocery store). They’re there to help!
Barring all of that, if you must choose blindly, I would choose a high end Champage from a well known Champagne house. Dom Perignon is a well known name, but quite pedestrian for Champagne (it’s only about $120 a bottle). Again, seek the advice of your local wine merchant. Seek out names like Krug, Bollinger, Moet & Chandon, Salon, Louis Roderer. Also, high-end bottles of Champagne usually come in beautiful and ornate presentation boxes, and that’s very appropriate as a wedding gift!
Another option is to buy a less expensive Champagne (like Dom Perignon) but in a large format bottle. A regular bottle is .750 liters. A magnum is 1.5 liters (equal to 2 regular sized bottles). A jeroboam is 3 liters (equal to 4 regular sized bottles). The bigger bottles are really impressive looking and very festive. You can use fine-tipped paint markers to write well-wishes right on the glass bottle.
Hope this helps.
i suggest getting a bottle vintage this year to allow them to save and enjoy/commemorate their wedding year 10 years down the road. typically champagne is the typical wedding momento, but i personally prefer red wine. Opus 1 has a lot of reputation, but is not quite worth the price for the taste. I prefer Caymus or Cakebread. and just a nuggett of wisdom…… price does NOT equal high quality taste. my favorite all time red wine is robert mondavi cab…. it’s 14 bucks a bottle. i would take it over caymus and cakebread and opus 1 anyday.
In that price range, personally, I would get a bottle of a good vintage of Tignanello or Sassacaia. Solaia would be another option. These will both need to be sat on for a period of time, but will continue to improve and change for the next 10-20 years.
An upper end La Spinetta would also knock their socks off.
I would also consider Dunn Howell Mountain wines, Schrader wines, and Archery Summit Pinot Noir (Red Hills or Arcus).
One idea that I typically use is a nice bottle of wine coupled with a really nice wine tote. It is always well received because it is something they can keep after the wine is all gone! Here are a couple of my favorites:
http://www.picnictrend.com/wine-accessories-19/single-bottle-totes-24/aruba-wine-case-170.html
http://www.picnictrend.com/wine-accessories-19/single-bottle-totes-24/escape-wine-case-190.html
I’d suggest a bottle of Silver Oak Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. This is one of the best Cabernets and costs around $100. Also buy a set of 4 Riedel Cabernet wine glasses.
They are sure to appreciate both. Learn more about Silver Oak Cab at http://www.cheers2wine.com/Silver-Oak-Cabernet.html.