Finding the perfect gift this holiday season is easy when you know the recipient enjoys wine. The wine world has been revolutionized in the past decade with technological advancements that are not only much needed solutions to common wine problems, but are also much-appreciated gifts.
THE VALUES
Vacu Vin is an inexpensive but trusted preservation system. It literally is a wine saver. I consider this one of the best values to preserve wines. It's a vacuum pump that extracts the air from the opened bottle, when you've reached the optimum level it will click and reseal the wine bottle with a reusable rubber stopper. A simple process -- but one that works by slowing the oxidation process. Price: $5 to $9, depending on gift sets and plastic versus stainless steel.
Serving temperature is vital in the taste of your wine in the glass. An easy solution for those without an extensive cellar system is the Menu Fahrenheit Wine Thermometer or the Plastic Cased Alltemp Infrared Wine Thermometer. The first attaches around a wine bottle much like a belt and within minutes you can read the temperature on the digital display. The Infrared is a hot gift for the tech lover. This compact tool looks like a pen, but measures the temperature digitally on the outside of the bottle. Cost: $14 to $35, depending on styles.
THE SPLURGE
One of my favorite wine preservation tools is the Coravin. It comes with an indulgent, bank-busting price tag but it's well worth the investment for a serious wine collector or drinker. In the past, this tool was available only in the restaurant industry and the price is becoming more approachable. The Coravin allows you to drink from a bottle without pulling the cork, meaning expensive wines can be enjoyed slightly more frivolously as you no longer must commit to opening the entire bottle when you want one glass. The Coravin features a super-thin needle that penetrates the foil and cork to extract the wine, while argon gas pressurizes the bottle, allowing you to siphon out a single glass. As you remove the needle the cork reseals itself, returning the wine to its unopened state. Everyone gets to drink exactly what he or she wants and you can offer a variety of options because unopened bottles will not spoil. Cost: $200 to $500, depending on color and accessories.
Lorri Hambuchen is a member of London's Institute of Wines and Spirits. Contact her at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or email:
Food on 12/13/2017