Best Wines to Give as Gifts

Hey guys, It's Joe Campanale here with Jordan Salcito, for eHow.com. And today we're going to talk about great gifts to give for the holiday. Since we're both wine professionals, we really love to give wine as a perfect gift for the holiday.You know when I look at wine as a gift to give for the holidays, I think of it a little bit differently from If I'm at a wine store or looking at a wine list. Usually, when I'm at a restaurant and looking at a list, I think about oh, what's cool and new, what haven't I tried. I'm going to take a risk and maybe find a really new great discovery. But when I'm giving a gift to someone, I really like to give them something that's really a lot more familiar, whether it's Bordeaux, or Chianti, or maybe a great Cabernet Sauvignon. Jordan and I were chatting before and she takes a different approach. She really likes to give a wine with a great story. And the story is something that you can tell someone and then when they're sharing it with their friends they can.. they can relate the story. A wine that has a great story is actually one that Jordan's working on called Bellas. Can you tell us a little bit about Bellas? Sure, thanks so much. You know, exactly like Joe was saying, I think you know, wine is a great way to be personal and so if somebody's just come back from vacation somewhere, you can give them a bottle of wine from that place. And one thing that Joe just mentioned is a label that's coming out this holiday season called Bellas. The first bottling is.. it's called Girasole and it's Super.. Super Tuscan. So just like Joe was mentioning, it's so.. I think you know, when you're giving a gift, you want something that people have heard of or that's familiar in a little respect that you're not going too far out of the ball park and Bellas is a Super Tuscan made from the town of Montalcino on a little hillside. And it is made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Rouleaux grapes. And it's from the 2007 vintage which was a gorgeous vintage in Montalcino, which is in Tuscany. And the other thing that I'm really proud of with this wine is that it actually give back to a foundation, the Troy-Brooks Foundation which empowers female entrepreneurs domestically to micro-finance. So, You're of giving a gift that also gives to somebody else. Which is one thing that I though was important or something that was inspiring when I was setting on a wine to create. That's great, yeah. And then when you open up that bottle with your friends and family, you know wine is best when shared with people you care about. So, you're giving again. So, it's like a gift that keeps on giving and giving. And it's delicious. I tried it before. I love.. I love Bellas. Absolutely. What are some of your other tips for giving holiday wines. Holiday wines, let's see. Well we were talking a little bit earlier about the sparkling wines and I think that a sparkling wine is always so versatile and there are so many great value options. So you can do a Prosecco, or a Cava and certainly do a Cremants. Where you know Cremants is made in exactly the same way as Champagne, but from regions outside of Champagne. So, you can have a Cremant d'joura, a Cremant d'Bourgogne, Cremant Alsace, Cremant A Loire. So you can have these great delicious sparkling wines that are made with the same amount of attention and perfection, and sometimes even more so, in champagnes that are a fraction of the price. So, I think that's always a very festive option. That's a great point too. When you're buying wine to give as a holiday gift, think sparkling wine. There's nothing as festive as that great pop and there are all sorts of really wonderful values at every different price point. You also think about some of the bigger names to give, like Chianti and Cabernet and Bordeaux. And the third.. the third thing to think about is to give a wine with a story and that story will live on as the wine that's opened up with friends and family. Thank you so much for watching, I'm Joe Campanale, beverage director at Anfora, and this is Jordan Salcida, the beverage director at The Crown.Tune into eHow.com for more. Cheers. Cheers.