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Creston Valley gifts perfect for the wine lovers on your list

With three wineries, a couple of fruit juice makers and other businesses stoking wine lovers’ dreams, shoppers don’t have to look far...
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Gift baskets from Tigz Designs can include a variety of locally-made beverages.

Let’s face it. Most of us don’t really need another pair of gloves, an ugly tie or monogrammed handkerchiefs (do they even make those any more?). Mostly, we just don’t need more stuff.

Buying a gift for someone who enjoys wine is easy-squeezy, and in Creston it’s getting easier each year. With three wineries now producing excellent wines, a couple of fruit juice makers and other related businesses stoking wine lovers’ dreams, shoppers don’t have to look far to fill their list.

When we head east to Calgary for Christmas, our car is stocked with Creston products, and the odd one from around the province. This year, the Prius will be laden with wines from Skimmerhorn Winery and Vineyard, Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery and Wynnwood Cellars, not to mention bottles from Tabletree and William Tell. (Not to worry about space — on one memorable trip to the Okanagan we learned that a Prius can hold four adults, luggage and 11 cases of wine. But that’s another story!)

Our treasures will also include a selection of wines from some of our favourite stops in the Okanagan.

From Skimmerhorn our stock will include bottles of Old Koot. This new port-style wine is an unusual treat, being much less sweet than most ports. Fortified with alcohol made in the Skimmerhorn still, it features dark chocolate and cherry aromas with plum, black currant and cherry flavours, perfect for an after dinner treat, with or without dessert. And Skimmerhorn fans will be pleased to know that white Kootenay Crush is now available at the wine shop, too.

Our family members might get a little nervous if I didn’t show up with some of the current Baillie-Grohman selections. Especially popular are the always glorious, and different with each vintage, Blanc de Noirs, a rosé wine made with Pinot Noir grapes. And, of course, there is the lovely 2011 Pinot Noir Estate wine, a must buy for those who favour the “heartbreak grape”. With this grape, the only broken hearts come when the BG Pinot Noir sells out.

Wynnwood Cellars has sold out of its popular white wines and the wine shop is closed until spring, but partner Dave Basaraba reports that 2011 Pinot Noir and 2012 Merlot are available at private liquor stores in the Creston Valley.

What to do about the turkey dinner conundrum? What goes best with a dinner that tends to be heavy and often includes Brussels sprouts, which don’t pair well with anything, even water? (Okay, I exaggerate. But not by much!)

I prefer lighter wines that have some spicy aspects. It’s a rare rosé that doesn’t enhance the dinner and the colours are invariably festive. Depending on the vintage, the grape/s used and the winemaking process, they can range from pale salmon to bright cranberry, from bone dry to semi-sweet. Rose wines have become hugely popular in recent years and not only during the hot days of summer.

White wines — when I think of turkey, Gewurztraminer comes to mind — can also go nicely with a Christmas bird. Sauvignon Blanc is a less common choice, but one worth exploring.

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating — arriving at your host’s door bearing a bottle of the Sage, a wild sage-infused Gewurz from Silver Sage Winery in Oliver is a surefire way to get welcomed back. If sage and onion stuffing is on the menu, there is no better match than this off-dry wine.

For gifts, we like to include wines that we have purchased directly from wineries, ones that have been memorable for us. Among our choices this year might be bottles from Serendipity Winery, a treasure among Naramata wineries, Summerhill Pyramid Winery, where the Cipes family keeps hauling in international awards for their sparkling wines, Fairview Cellars, where B.C. “Cab Man” Bill Eggars makes fantastic red wines, and Moraine Winery, which produces really good wines and really good prices. The list goes on. And on.

The huge bonus in this Digital Age is being able to order online from many B.C. wineries, which can ship orders right to your door. And many now have wine clubs, where a usually free membership provides for regular shipments and discounts on the product. It makes shopping particularly easy in the winter, when highway travel can get a little dicey.

I am especially proud to include Tabletree juices in my gift-giving, and to tell people about how this little company operated by Susan and Gary Snow has, for two straight years, been a finalist in the World Juice Awards in Europe. It has won once and been a runner-up this year, but the juices are undeniably of all-world calibre. All made right here in the Creston Valley, with only local fruit.

A new addition this year has been the William Tell Juice Company, which is selling its products at the Creston Valley Farmers’ Market and in other outlets in an ever-expanding territory. We took a couple of bottles to Calgary last month so that our son and his newly pregnant wife could celebrate with a sparkling, non-alcoholic cider. How did the William Tell Sparkling Old-Fashioned Cider go over with them? We got a message on the weekend: “Can you bring more when you come for Christmas?”

Of course, it isn’t only just bottles of wine that make good gifts. Tigz Designs, open this season on Canyon Street, makes breathtakingly beautiful gift baskets using local products, including scrumptious Kootenay Alpine Cheese. Drop into any Creston Valley retailer, or check out the farmers’ market, and chances are there is something for the wine lover on your gift list.

Beer lovers take their passion seriously, and we have never disappointed one with a gift purchased at the Kokanee Beer Gear Store at the Columbia Brewery. When we travel it is surprising to learn how many people around the world are familiar with Creston — because they know where Kokanee beer is made.

Finally, for a really personal touch, consider giving local art. Wine lovers tend to be art lovers, too, so even art works that don’t include wine in their theme are likely to be a hit with the recipient.

’Tis the season, as we say. It’s always important to keep safety in mind and to ensure enjoying wine, beer or other alcoholic beverage includes not driving and endangering others. Make a plan that includes a designated driver or cab when visiting, and stick to it.