SAFE BOTTLES FOR A HOST
Reasonably priced offerings can be both delicious, respectful gifts at a dinner party
Not a week goes by without someone asking for suggestions for a wine to bring to dinner or another social function. They don’t know much about wine, you see, and just want to know the names of some safe bets to buy and present to the host.
Not surprisingly, that answer has changed over time.
There was a time when the best rule of thumb for how much to spend on such a bottle was to double your age. Twentysomethings should invest $40 for their host-hostess gift; 30-somethings were expected to dig deeper; 40-somethings deeper still.
But then the recession and the Fuzion phenomena hit. A Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina, took the world by storm because it was the rare $8 bottle that was delicious and a great value. Suddenly requests from readers were for suggestions for good, cheap wines.
I heard of dinner parties where the person who spent the least on the bottle of wine that people enjoyed the most would win the bragging rights for the night.
But I also would hear from wine lovers whose fiscal restraints meant they no longer went out to dinner. They wanted to know about good premium wines. They figured if they used to spend $80 to $100 for a bottle of wine at a restaurant, factoring in markups, spending $40 or $50 at the liquor store would fetch a wine of the same quality when they dined at home.
Today, it’s simply a matter of bringing something respectable. If you know your hosts are big fans of French wines or are planning a trip to Italy then take your cue from that. After all, isn’t it the thought that counts?
If you don’t know the hosts that well, consider bringing along this week’s white or red. Both are extremely well-made and enjoyable selections that are suit to please a variety of palates.
The one caveat that hasn’t changed over time? Bringing a bottle of wine as a host-hostess gift is just that — a gift. There’s no certainty or obligation that it will be opened on that night. Christopher Waters is the co-founder and editor of Vines, a national consumer wine magazine.