June 14, 2011
A great father’s day present for around $50. I bought this recently at the Wine Hound in Santa Barbara for $55.95. I have also found it in the past at the Wine Gallery in Corona del Mar. Madeira is difficult to find and tends to be expensive, but this is an approachable version that is tasty and well priced.
Good Madeira is tangy, nutty, has a bit of a coffee taste, and just a tad sweet. It is our favorite after dinner aperitif that goes great with cheese and is just all-around darn delicious. A bottle of Madeira is definitely something any wine/ food person should poses in his/her collection. When we serve it after dinner, most of the time our guests have never tried it (on a memorable night, after trying it, one unnamed guest pretty much downed an entire bottle). It’s one of those rare treats that makes a great present for dad.
I also like it because it’s not the kind of wine you have to drink all in one sitting. You can open it and cork it to save for the next time you get a hankering…if you can control yourself, that is…
You can also pick from a great selection at the Rare Wine Company. Mannie Berk, the owner of RWC, is the official go-to guy on Madeira.
Photo from theartofeating.com
The ultimate foodie magazine. Super nerdy and informative, and perfect for food and wine geek dads. If 32 pages of information about ham is your dad’s thing – then this magazine is the right gift for him.
Secrets of the Sommeliers by Rajat Parr and Jordan Macaky
Photo from secretsofthesommeliers.com
The subtitle says it all “How to think and drink like the world’s top wine professionals.”
Rajat Parr is a good friend of ours — we have had some outrageously fun times together. He is super smart, knowledgable about wine, generous, and fun. His book is a great resource for wine lovers, though his soccer skills could use a little brush up!
Our burger from last year
This is a fantastic gift for both a burger lover and a major foodie. It would be fun to let your guy pick out his idea combination himself, or order up a surprise. Last year, we did this for last year for Father’s Day (a little early) and it was a huge success. And the best part, (besides incredible gourmet burger goodness, or course) was that the package was delivered right to the door with our special guy’s name and the meat recipe on the label.
From Vintage Cellars
My husband loves this bag. It gets dubbed the Man-Purse or “Murse” in our house, but I think it has a really old-school manly vibe about it, which makes it both handy and stylish for a wine collector. Plus, if your guy is going to carry a man-purse, at least make it a “murse” filled with wine!
This is the ultimate gardener’s gift. It’s pricey, but incredible-something that I would LOVE to own! Basically, this contraption takes all your compost and brews it into a liquid to spray over your garden, causing your plants to grow like crazy! It is truly amazing and puts miracle grow to shame.
