The holidays are upon us. Tomorrow, I go to the airport to pick up our first Thanksgiving guests. It's a high joy, high stress time of year. (photo by sarah)There's no reason to let wine slip from the joy category to the stress category.
Today on Serious Grape, my weekly wine column on Serious Eats, I give hosts and guests a brief guide of what to do and what not to do when it comes to serving and gifting wine.
Basically, my advice is simple. If you are a host, keep it low-key. If you are a guest, try not to burden your hosts with sudden changes and demands like showing up with a half case of wine that needs to be chilled and announcing cheerfully that you thought this would go great with dinner.
The most important thing to remember? Enjoy yourself, and relax. It's a holiday, remember?
5 comments:
You can, however, show up with half a case of GOOD wine as a host gift, as long as you do not expect it to be served with dinner.
What are some good go-to wines if you just need to pick something up quickly?
I am on a budget but don't want to come off too cheap. I know to stay away from the boxed kool aid, but passed that I need some help!
Sabrina, check out my recommendations for this year on this earlier post: http://goodwineunder20.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksgiving-wine-under-20-2008-picks.html
They include affordable, easy to find wines that are available at places like supermarkets, chain stores, and Cost Plus as well as some more specialized picks--but all are under $20. My favorites for you would be the Clif Bar Family Winery Climber White, the MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast, and the Cupcake Chardonnay. They should all be very easy to find.
How do you feel about these wines that were profiled on our site?
http://www.foodvu.com/content/top-10-wines-under-20
Speaking of etiquette...I just purchased a case of Round Hill wine (Rutherford Wine Company) because they were marketing a rebate, which expires 12/31/08. Upon completing the rebate form, it indicates that not only the receipt needs to be remitted, but also a capsule for each bottle of wine. Are they promoting alcoholism? They are providing this marketing coupon which requires a case to be purchased yet submitted by year end. Are they aware of any wine social etiquette? Do they know the wine business? Many people buy a case of wine to gift a bottle as a gift to friends. So, they're expecting customers to ask for the capsule back? Are they serious!
I could see them asking for 1 capsule, but not the entire case.
Either they're promoting high consumption of alcohol by the purchaser or they have no concept of wine etiquette.
Either way...not good.
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