Vinous Holiday Gift Guide 2015

A number of fabulous books top the list among this year’s best gift choices for the wine lover in your life. The 2015 Vinous Holiday Gift guide has something for everyone. Of course, glasses, decanters and service items all make great gifts too. For more gift ideas, readers might enjoy revisiting the The Vinous 2014 Holiday Gift Guide and The Vinous 2013 Holiday Gift Guide.

1)    Karen MacNeil’s Wine Bible (2nd Edition) is a terrific choice for those who are just getting into wine. Early chapters are focus on general topics such as how wine is made, a look at the main grapes found throughout the world, and thoughts on food pairing. Later chapters give readers the essentials on the main wine-producing regions. In sum, this is a terrific all-around book that will appeal to a wide range of wine lovers. Highly recommended. Workman; $24.95/paperback.

2)    The Oxford Companion to Wine (Fourth Edition) presents an extraordinary range of information written by dozens of contributors, all edited by Jancis Robinson and her long-time colleague Julia Harding. Information is presented alphabetically, encyclopedia style, which makes the Companion an essential resource, although this is not the kind of book one is likely to read from front to back. Still, the Oxford Companion is fabulous. Highly recommended. Oxford University Press; $65.00/hardcover.