In This Email:
Share Our Strength 
Great Wine and Gifts 
Wine Team Gift Picks 
Heidrun Mead Adds Traditional Sparkle to the Holidays 
Special Holiday Offer


Share Our Strength

At wine.com, not only do we have thousands of wines and gift ideas -- 
we also have a way to make them go further during the holidays. For a 
limited time, every bottle of SOS Handley Cellars Pinot Noir
purchased at wine.com will result in a donation of $1 to Share Our 
Strength, the national hunger-fighting organization. During this time 
of celebration, we want to share some of the bounty with people truly 
in need. 

To learn more about each item listed below, simply click on its name!

Please check our homepage to view holiday shipping deadlines 
at wine.com. 

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Great Wine and Gifts

Handley Cellars Pinot Noir SOS Cuvee, Anderson Valley, 
California, $15.00
One dollar from each bottle sold goes directly to Share Our Strength, 
a nonprofit organization working to alleviate and prevent hunger and 
poverty around the world. Light to medium in body with red berry 
fruit, mellow tannins, and a peppery finish. 

Wine-Filled Chocolate, $15.00
A dozen rich chocolates encase crisp Chardonnay, luscious Merlot, and 
creamy port, boxed for holiday giving. Sweets for the sweet -- or not 
so sweet -- on your list. 

Christmas Dinner Wines, $59.00
A comprehensive, can't-miss three-pack to accompany Christmas dinner: 
a delicious French bubbly, a lush and creamy Australian Chardonnay, 
and an elegant red Bordeaux, packaged in a handsome wine.com 
gift box. 

A Century of Wine, $40.00
Covering 100 years of wine history and lore, 16 of the world's finest 
wine writers and experts explore topics in politics, economics, 
geography, science, technology, and lifestyle. Full of stories, 
facts, and visuals, this richly illustrated book will appeal to all. 

Bubbly Duet, $28.00
A deliciously dry and creamy bubbly from the south of France and an 
impressive, elegant sparkler from Italy made by the traditional 
Champagne method. Comes in a handsome wine.com gift box. 

Dom. J. Laurens Cremant de Limoux Brut Blanc de Blancs, 
France, $11.00
Whether you're looking for a bubbly for a crowd or are simply 
hankering after a dry sparkling wine that won't break the bank, 
Domaine Laurens Blanc de Blancs Brut -- owned by Michel Dervin, a 
young, dynamic Champagne winemaker -- is a perfect choice. 

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Wine Team Gift Picks

We count on our crack Wine Team for expert advice all year long, so 
it's only natural that, during the holidays, we also tap their 
expertise for wine-related gifts. Following are some of their 
suggestions of highly useful accessories available from wine.com, 
symbiotically paired with wines that underscore their value 
(and vice versa). 

Burke Owens:
As a sommelier, I've worked with a wide variety of corkscrews, from a 
Swiss Army knife to the oh-so-refined French Laguiole. My favorite 
for general home and party use is the Screwpull LX Leverpull. And 
since this indomitable tool is affectionately known as the T2 in 
honor of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator, what better wine to open 
with it than another magnificent Austrian, the lush, floral, vibrant 
1999 Nigl Gruner Veltliner Siri Senftenberg. 

Peter Marks:
You can never have too many Champagne flutes, especially during the 
holidays, when flinging them into the fireplace becomes second 
nature. The practical and affordable Riedel Cuvee/Prestige flutes
First, though, make sure you drain them of the A.R. Lenoble Blanc de 
Blancs Grand Cru, Champagne you poured. 

Jeff Prather:
For people eager to learn about wine, Andrea Immer has just come out 
with an excellent primer: Great Wine Made Simple. Andrea is my kinda 
gal -- she just wants to have fun with wine, but her credentials are 
impeccable. She covers all the basics in a readable, easily 
understandable, down-to-earth style, and -- since the only real way 
to learn about wines is to taste a wide range of them -- she suggests 
illustrative wines at the end of each chapter. As it happens, 
wine.com has created special wine packs from Andrea's 
recommendations, the first of which is entitled The Big Six Wine 
Grapes. This way you can give the whole thoughtful package in one 
fell swoop, and your recipient will find out exactly how appetizing 
education can be. 

Diana Jacklich:
Another great way to learn about wine is our Wines of the World Club, 
which delivers a new set of wines for tasting every month. Then, 
after you've hooked up your newbie connoisseur with the fabulous gift 
of wine, they'll need a way to open it -- and fast! The Rabbit 
Corkscrew will have them making a toast to you in the blink of 
an eye. 

Bo Thompson:
What to do if you find yourself shopping for the special wine 
collector who has every new wine under the sun? How about the kind of 
pedigree that only age can provide? In the 1970s, Spring Mountain 
Vineyards, under the directorship of Charlie Ortman, made truly 
distinctive Cabernet Sauvignons that speak strongly of "Old Napa 
Valley." Venerable wines like these need special care, for which I 
recommend Riedel decanters: Handmade by crystal artisans in Germany, 
these beautiful vessels are the very best in the world, with both 
Single-Bottle and magnum sizes available. 

Julian Davies:
As is so often the case with state-of-the-art stuff, our High-tech 
Stopper and Stand represent a near-perfect union of function and 
form, creating something you don't really need but really ought to 
own. It's meant to be used in an opened but unfinished bottle of 
wine; I would personally employ it with the 1998 Lolonis Fume Blanc. 
Lolonis uses ladybugs instead of pesticides, so what better way to 
keep those darn bugs out of the bottle? 

Finally, when in doubt, check out the Wine Team's 12 Days of 
Christmas holiday case -- an all-purpose, international selection of 
stellar wines. 

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Heidrun Mead Adds Traditional Sparkle to the Holidays

If you're looking for something stimulating and different for the 
holidays, consider a bottle of sparkling mead from the Heidrun 
Meadery. Using honey rather than grapes, meadmaking is an ancient 
craft that this Northern California company has elevated to an art. 
Fermented from different blends of nectars -- apple, blackberry, 
clover, fennel, sunflower, morning glory, alfalfa -- Heidrun 
sparklers are refreshingly clean and delicate, suggestive of honey 
yet undeniably dry; each varietal offers a range of floral, herbal, 
and fruity notes, along with a woodsy, earthy undercurrent. Served 
chilled in flutes, like fine Champagne, it's a wonderful aperitif or 
accompaniment to a meal (and an especially attractive one to 
sensitive wine drinkers, as no sulfites are used in the process). Try 
a bottle during the holidays and discover a delightfully new old 
perspective on wine. 

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Special Holiday Offer: An Extra Month in the Discovery Club

For friends, family, and business associates, the wine.com Discovery 
Club can constitute a monthly surprise delivered to their doorstep: a 
package of hand-selected wines with detailed tasting notes, recipes, 
educational materials, and other stimulating stuff. This week, if you 
send in a gift subscription to the three-month program, the recipient 
will get an additional free month in the club (four months total). 
Memberships start at $27.50 per month. 

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