Ask the WC 29: Birthday gifts, larger bottles, and on-line

This edition of Ask the WC: Wine as a birthday present, plus buying larger bottles and making sense of on-line wine

Because the customers always have questions, and the Wine Curmudgeon has answers in this irregular feature. You can Ask the Wine Curmudgeon a wine-related question by clicking here.

Hi, WC:
I can’t find anything on the blog about buying wine as a birthday present — lots of wine for holidays and Christmas, but not birthdays. How did you miss that?
Birthday shopper

Dear Birthday:
That’s a good point, and one would have thought I’d have touched on the subject once or twice in almost 14 years. General guidance — buy someone what will they like, and not what you think they should like. Plus, of course, bubbly. More specifically, wine for a birthday (or similar special occasion) is about memories — reminding someone about a wonderful experience they once had or something they did with you that neither of you will ever want to forget. I can buy a certain bottle of sparkling wine, and still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I drank it.

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Hello, Wine Curmudgeon:
A friend sent me this article about wine in larger bottles. Needless to say, it didn’t make much sense to me. Can you explain?
Confused

Dear Confused:
Ah, the wine geek larger bottle story. No wonder you were confused. The wine geek theory goes that the world’s best wines last longer and age more gracefully if they’re in larger bottles, as opposed to the standard 750 ml bottle. So most of the information in the story doesn’t apply to most wine drinkers, since we don’t regularly spend $100 for a bottle of wine, regardless of size. Besides, as happens very time I buy a 1.5-liter bottle of the La Vieille Ferme rose (which is the equivalent of two standard bottles), I drink too much of it. And I’m a professional and should know better.
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Hey WC:
I’m a fairly traditional wine shopper, which means I either buy it at the market or at Costco or a chain retailer. So, needless to say, I’ve been confused by this on-line and delivery stuff. Do you have any words of wisdom?
Retail shopper

Dear Retail:
The biggest problem with on-line wine (save for delivery charges) is that you can’t read the label — so no idea about alcohol levels, the grapes in the blend, and he importer (if there is one) without a lot of Googling. And there’s no guarantee about vintage, either. Otherwise, it’s not that much different. I wrote a post about it here; just find a decent on-line retailer and go from there.

Photo: “Wine for Colin’s birthday #wine #food #vscocam” by jeremiah.andrick is licensed under CC BY 2.0

More Ask the WC:
• Ask the WC 28: Wine Curmudgeon ethics, sweet red wine, and wine spending
• Ask the WC 27: Pandemic wine sales, red Burgundy, wine competitions
• Ask the WC 26: Wine gifts, supermarket wine, blog ads