David Duncan, the president and chief executive of Silver Oak Cellars in California’s Napa Valley, has a stock answer when people ask him what he drinks when he is not drinking his own wine.
“I drink my friends’ wines,” Mr. Duncan said on a video call last month from New York City, where he was attending an event.
“I have a saying that one of my favorite wine descriptors is ‘trust,” he said. “Giving somebody a funky bottle of orange wine might be interesting, but I think you want to give something that you know they’ll like.”
But how can you be sure what that would be?
The New York Times asked Mr. Duncan and five other winemakers around the globe — including Cristián Vallejo of Vik in the Millahue Valley of Chile; Matthew Day of Klein Constantia in the Constantia region of South Africa; Donae Burston of La Fête Wine Company, a producer in Provence with headquarters in Miami; Judy Chan of Grace Vineyard in Shanxi Province and in the Ningxia region of China; and Helen Masters of Ata Rangi in Martinborough, New Zealand — to recommend a wine (or three) that they would love to give or receive.
Given the limitations of international distribution, not all the wines will be easy to procure, nor will they fall under everyone’s budget (the recommendations range from $27 for a sparkling wine to more than $1,000 for select vintages). But should you find them, or visit the regions where they are produced, they might complement a special occasion.
“For me, it’s really hard to buy things for people,” Ms. Masters said. “I don’t want to buy things they don’t want. But I know a bottle of wine — especially as we get older — is one of those gifts that will, most of the time, be understood and accepted. The effort that’s gone into making these wines just adds to the celebration and adds to the depth of conversation and the feeling that it’s a special day.”
The winemakers’ remarks have been edited and condensed.
Cristián Vallejo
Chief winemaker at Vik, Millahue Valley, Chile
I’ve worked in Bordeaux four times and have a special connection with Médoc and Saint-Émilion. I really got into the culture of wine in that region.
An amazing wine to give as a gift is Château Léoville Poyferré from Saint-Julien. Also, Cos d’Estournel from Saint-Estèphe and La Conseillante from Pomerol.
My sister is a winemaker, too, and she just spent two weeks working at Léoville Poyferré with Isabelle Davin, the winemaker. While she was there, she visited La Conseillante, the neighbor of Château Pétrus. La Conseillante has a beautiful expression. It’s not a premier grand cru but the quality is amazing. It’s a wine that delivers a lot of quality for a reasonable price.
Léoville is the same: Saint-Julien has a tension in the tannins that I love. Always when I make my wines, I want that tension. It also has a reasonable price for the quality it delivers. If you find the 2004, even better, because that’s when I worked there.
Matthew Day
Winemaker at Klein Constantia, Constantia, South Africa
Sweet wines are our business — we make Vin de Constance, one of the top sweet wines in the world. But if you ask anyone on the street, “What is the best sweet wine?” — it’s Château d’Yquem. It’s in the Sauternes region of France, the most iconic region. The farm has been around for hundreds of years. It’s owned by Bernard Arnault, the head of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. It is the prized estate in the range.
It has a dried apricot, honeysuckle character and quite a bit of oak coming through. But the wine always tastes the same: lots of citrus and lots of zest. No other wine in the world, other than sweet wines like ports or Madeiras, will last as long. Because of the sugar, the wines will last 200 to 300 years. I’ve personally tasted a Vin de Constance from 1791. You can buy a bottle from someone’s birth year, your kids’ birth years, put it in the cellar and forget about it.
Château d’Yquem is priced on the high end, but you’re getting the greatest sweet wine in the world. The best of Bordeaux will cost you three times more than that, and the best of Burgundy will cost 10 times more than that. I have a relationship with the team. We were at Château d’Yquem last year and we had a grand dinner at the château and they opened everyone’s birth year. The wine was basically a time capsule.
David Duncan
President and chief executive at Silver Oak Cellars, Napa Valley, Calif.
I have a very close family relationship with the Novak family of Spottswoode in Napa. It’s one of the brands I’d recommend — older vintage preferred. The parents of Beth Novak, who’s running it today, were actually my godparents. They’re right in the middle of St. Helena. It is this beautiful old Victorian home, and the wines are exquisite. It is one of my go-to holiday wines when I’m not drinking Silver Oak.
The second thing I would say — I asked my wife about this, so this is coming from the couple — would be Schramsberg, a good, solid bottle of bubbles. We do not put that in the cellar. We put it in the fridge when we get it. And Hugh Davies, who’s the second-gen owner of Schramsberg today, is a great friend.
The last thing that came to mind was that I had the opportunity, 40 years ago, to drink a ’58 BV [Beaulieu Vineyard] and a ’58 Inglenook. I was about 18 or 19 years old. And so it was a big exciting thing for me. That was kind of an adult moment for me in the wine world that was transformative.
Donae Burston
Founder and chief executive at La Fête Wine Company, Miami
I founded La Fête in May 2019 to capture the essence of how rosé is consumed in the South of France, where it’s the first thing you have when everyone sits down together. And that was really the genesis: to think about rosé differently, to break seasonality.
We wanted to steal the thunder away from some of the other winemaking regions and really put Provence on the map. So if we stick with Provence and the rosé region, the pinnacle of rosé-making for a lot of us would be Domaines Ott Château Romassan. That’s the gold standard. It’s produced in Bandol. It’s aged in oak and aged in wood. So it has a little bit of a different expression than what people are used to. A lot of times, people think of rosé as light and whimsical and lacking in flavor, body and structure. But it gives you all those things and really helps you to understand that while rosé is fun, it’s also a great gastronomic wine.
Next up, I would say Salon Champagne — it’s 100 percent chardonnay, single vineyard, single varietal Champagne. It really is the best expression of the way Champagne used to be made; it’s not mass-produced. It’s also a brand that not many people know. I like to give something that’s a bit more esoteric.
Judy Chan
President and chief executive at Grace Vineyard, Shanxi and Ningxia, China
A wine from China that I’d recommend is Ao Yun, the reason being that they are owned by LVMH so it gives people a lot more confidence, especially if they have never tried Chinese wine before. It’s a bit pricey, but they are also pioneers in the wine region in Yunnan. I always find it fascinating when people have the courage to do something that hasn’t been done before. It’s also more likely you can find Ao Yun because they are widely distributed.
I’d also recommend Domaine Chave Hermitage from the Rhône Valley in France — it’s one of my favorite wines. I visited Jean-Louis Chave in Rhône many years ago, but he came to visit me in China first. And when he visited me in Shanxi, he said, “Your soil is very much like ours.” When I went to visit him, I could tell their soil is very similar: It’s very sandy and yellowish.
Part of why I recommend his wine is that when I went down to his cellar, he was very generous. And he has a very limited production. Wine is all about stories and relationships, it’s not at all about price. If you have no linkage with a wine, if you don’t know the producer or the winery, then it’s just a wine. It’s a very emotional product.
Helen Masters
Head winemaker at Ata Rangi, Martinborough, New Zealand
Our Christmas is in summer and we’re so sick of the winter that having a summer barbecue on the beach and swimming and playing outdoor games and sports is our ideal of what Christmas should be. And the wine choices reflect that. You’ve always got to have a sparkling wine because that really makes the festive vibe. A producer that’s really put their heart and soul into producing great bubbles in New Zealand is Quartz Reef in Central Otago; the 2017 Blanc de Blanc is a great example of Méthode Traditionnelle that really hits the mark, and it’s made by a good friend.
But then we are hoping we are going to have some great seafood, maybe some crayfish or prawns. For that, I’d recommend two white wines: Vietti Arneis from Italy’s Piedmont, dry and delicious, and Three Fates Albariño, from Hawke’s Bay here in New Zealand. Every time you drink it, there is so much joy in the glass.
If I was buying for a real wine geek, I would gift Rippon 2021 Tinker’s Field Pinot Noir, from Central Otago. And I’d also recommend a wine that’s available in the United States, from an Australian producer, based in a region that’s pretty obscure: the 2022 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier from Canberra. It’s always satisfying and delicious.
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