A gift bottle has a different job from a bottle for the house. It has to look right in the hand, it can't be the cheapest thing on the shelf, and whoever gets it has to know what to do with it.
Up to twenty-five dollars
A sweet Italian wine with bubbles in it. It looks better than it costs, it opens on any occasion, and almost nobody turns it down. The 1.5 litre of the same wine is a better gift again for a house where family gathers. Quezalteca Mora belongs here too, and it surprises people more.
Up to fifty
This is where the gift that never misses lives: Buchanan's 12 in a 750. Everyone knows the box, nobody asks what it cost, and it actually gets drunk. Hennessy VS does the same job for a cognac drinker. A flavoured Italian brandy is the answer for somebody who doesn't drink spirits neat.
A hundred and up
Buchanan's 18. At that price the gift stops being the drink and becomes the gesture, and that bottle says it without you having to. Ask us what landed this week, because the good stuff moves fast in December.
The rule almost nobody follows
Give what they drink, not what you drink. If they always ask for sweet wine, an expensive whisky sits unopened for two years. It works the other way round just as badly.
If you genuinely have no idea
Buchanan's 12 for him, Stella Rosa for her. It isn't original and it never fails, which in December is exactly what you need.
Beverage World Package Store
6731 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Doraville, GA 30360. (770) 441-0001. Open 10am to 9pm Monday to Wednesday, 10am to 11pm Thursday to Saturday, and 11am to 9pm Sunday. Delivery from $4.99.
On our shelf right now
Prices and stock read from our own inventory when this page was built.