Merry Christmas everyone! It’s only 2 more days until the big day. What’s your traditional food for Christmas dinner? We do a meatless dinner on Christmas eve and then usually have a huge ham for Christmas dinner. And wine is always an important part! So as you all know I’m really big on wine clubs… and they are the perfect Christmas gift. But for some people a Christmas basket with a big red bow just seems like the way to go. There are many places online to pickup such a gift basket. One site called Wine Club Gift has an assortment of baskets specifically for Christmas. Most of them are under $100, which is decent for a fancy Christmas gift. The Simple Thoughts gift basket is only $67 and has “your choice of wine with a thoughtful selection of gourmet cheese, crackers for spreading, scrumptious salami, wine bites in a decorated sack, and assorted sweet confections or truffle.” All wonderful things to nibble on with your glass of wine. For someone looking to spend a little more I’d suggest the Wine Sensations basket. This basket has “gourmet foods which include a great assortment four different gourmet cheeses and cheese spreads, a crispy box of gourmet Sesame Crackers, delightful Sourdough Bites, a wonderful Italian Beef Salami, gourmet cookies, and a selection of scrumptious sweet confections. They also include is a keepsake Cheese Knife set, and our deluxe stainless steel Waiter’s Corkscrew all beautifully wrapped up in a woven willow basket.” I hope everyone has a safe commute and a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Cheers,

WCI

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It’s that time of year again - time to get the corporate gifts going.  You remember when your dad got a fascinating assortment of sausages and nuts, and of course you always dug around to get the dutch cannister of cookies in that lot.   These days, corporate gifts have graduated to a bit more class, and a lot more antioxidants.

The gift of a wine club is the gift that keeps on giving.  What a delight for your boss and co-workers to come home to find a couple of bottles of shiraz and pinot grigio.  I enjoy that myself - I’m partial to that once a month surprise that I certainly look forward to!  To really impress with some 90+ point wines, try Cellars Wine Club.  This club pleases with the best from all over the world - from California, Europe, South Americ and Australia.  A world trip of wines right to your door!  What could be better?

For a great value wine club that won’t break your wallet, and still please the avid wine drinker, try The California Wine Club.  For less than $100, you can buy 4 bottles of wine in 2 shipments - an assortment of reds and whites that will not disappoint.

No go out and make sure you get your Christmas shopping done early!  With the best wines, you might just get that promotion you’ve been longing for.

- St Nick, North Pole Winemaker

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Wine Club Insider here.

With only five days to go before Christmas, you re rapidly running out of daylight to get those wine club gifts to your special oeniphiles! You may be down to the beautifully wrapped postcard announcing that “your wine club gift is on its way.”

Even if you don’t plan on doing the whole wine club gift, there are plenty of very nice single bottle gifts that will make any wine lover’s heart go pitter patter, and we’ll talk a bit about those over the next couple of days.

Today, we’re going to kind of set the stage…

Christmas, of all the holidays, is really Cabernet Sauvignon’s Big Day. It is the day, with the rich, savory meals that adorn the Christmas table, that the King of Wines shines, and so, for the next 5 days, Cab is King, and we’ll create a “Top 10″ list of great cabs that will be fitting adornments to any holiday table.

Okay… a couple of house rules…

1) It has to be a wine that someone can actually buy (even if it might take a little work)…

2) Without having to get a second mortgage, which eliminates some of the “cult” big names like Screaming Eagle, which cost more than some college tuitions.

3) Ideally, it should be availble through a wine club.

4) It has to be a pure Cab, or at least a majority Cab blend.

(FYI, on the 24th, I’ll post my list of “dream” cabs, which ignore the above rules… this will be a dreamer’s paradise! Stay tuned!)

With the house rules in mind, let’s get started on our list with the Number Ten selection on the Wine Club Insider’s Christmas Cab list!

…and the survey says…

Number 10:   Sterling Vineyards 05 Diamond Mountain Ranch Cabernet. $65/bottle. Available as a special request through the Sterling Vineyards Cellar Club.

Voted “Year’s Best,” by WIne and Spirits, this 92 point beauty has the cool feel of Diamond Mountain Reds, as well as a taste of Cherry. It’s been in oak for 3 years, which has mellowed the tannins slightly, and given it a nice, approachable feel, even though this remains a huge wine! Decant this baby for a couple of hours, and enjoy!

See you tomorrow with numbers 8 & 9! This is going to be fun!

Cheers!

Wine Club Insider

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