Holiday Gifts For Collectors

Those of us in the advice-giving game know what’s expected of us for the holiday season. We’re supposed to tantalize you with you-gotta-give-it goodies — and you’re supposed to clap your hands with delight.We are all exhorted to think that our loved ones will be inconsolable without, say, a jeroboam of Château Lafite-Rothschild 2005 ($6,757.99 at Zachys) or a bottle of Montrachet 2004 from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. (Even for a rarity such as DRC Montrachet, it pays to shop around: Prices for the 2004 Montrachet range from $2,950 at Tribeca Wine Merchants to $4,000 a bottle at Park Avenue Liquor.)Now, ahem, let’s return to the real world. Since wine lovers are notoriously acquisitive, would-be wine givers are understandably daunted. Not only is there a vast and bewildering array of offerings from which to choose, but you also have to somehow divine whether the recipient already has that bottle.Allow me to help. The wines to follow are simply terrific. They will please even the most persnickety collector and — I promise — you’ll get extra points for a delighted yelp of “How’d you find that wine?” Not least, you won’t spend much money. Now that’s a happy holiday.Here’s The (Holiday Cheer) DealAuxey-Duresses Blanc “Vieilles Vignes” 2005, Domaine Jean-Pierre Diconne — The wine folks are panting for this 2005 vintage from Burgundy more than any other. It was a very great vintage, and prices have consequently skyrocketed (the weak dollar isn’t helping, either). Still, there are deals to be found, and this flat-out wonderful white Burgundy (100% chardonnay) from the small grower, Jean-Pierre Diconne, is one of the few to be found.The skinny on this wine is that the village of Auxey-Duresses is often overlooked in the mad snap-up of ever more expensive white Burgundies from nearby Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet. But Auxey-Duresses can deliver delicious goods.Jean-Pierre Diconne has created a superb white Burgundy in this old-vine Auxey-Duresses — some of the grapes come from vines planted in 1927 in the premier cru Les Duresses vineyard. The result, in a great vintage such as 2005, is a dense, thick-textured chardonnay offering a tangy mix of licorice, earth and mineral notes, citrus, and green apples.Worth noting is that this wine shows almost no apparent oak, as Monsieur Diconne uses just 20% new oak barrels. The character of this dense, succulent dry white wine is allowed to shine brightly, without the harassment of vanilla and toast notes from too much new oak.In a world of white Burgundies that routinely ask $100 a bottle or more, this is a steal for $32 at Moore Brothers Wine Company (33 E. 20th St. at Broadway, 212-375-1575).André Clouet Silver Brut Nature Champagne non-vintage — No wine is subject to more marketing sizzle than French Champagne. As a wine of joy, whether for the launch of a marriage or a ship, it sells on effervescence, in every sense.While there’s nothing wrong with this, the result is that few winemakers anywhere are more cynical about quality, precisely because Champagne producers know that their product sells less on goodness and more on glitter.This is why the real lovers of French Champagne are devoted to what are called single-grower or estate bottlings, where the grower himself makes the bubbly in the glass. (The big Champagne houses would have you believe that making sparkling wine is such an arcane art that only they can do it well. This is nonsense.)One such single-grower Champagne that’s worth seeking out is an exceptional 100% pinot noir bottling called Silver Brut Nature from the small grower André Clouet. This Silver Brut Nature bottling is a recent arrival to New York wine shops as, to the best of my knowledge, it wasn’t available locally last year at this time.The designation “brut nature” indicates that this Champagne gets no dosage, or sweetener, which is typically added to the vast majority of Champagnes just before the cork is inserted. In France, the producer of Champagne labeled brut or dry is actually allowed to add up to 15 grams of sugar per liter to the final blend. This wine has none. Therefore, the base wine has got to be awfully good to go out into the world without makeup, as it were. It’s worth noting, then, that the grapes for André Clouet Silver Brut Nature Champagne non-vintage come entirely from the grand cru, 100%-rated village of Bouzy, which is famed in Champagne as the finest village for growing pinot noir. This is an utterly dry French Champagne of rich pinot noir scents and flavors of red fruits. It’s a far more substantial Champagne than your usual sipper before dinner. You can serve this throughout the meal, especially with meats such as chicken, turkey, and pork.In the fairy-tale land of today’s high Champagne prices, the price for this stellar level of quality is — dare I say it? — cheap at $33.99 at Cabrini Wines and Liquors (831 W. 181st St. at Cabrini Boulevard, 212-568-3226) and $39.99 at 67 Wine & Spirits (179 Columbus Ave. at 68th Street, 212-724-6767).

Holiday Gifts For Collectors

Holiday Gifts For Collectors

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