International Wine Gifts

• Celebrate a special occasion with a special bottle of wine. champagne image by Sean Wallace-Jones from Fotolia.com

  Giving wine as a gift can be tricky because everyone has a personal preference: red or white, sweet or dry, sparkling or still. Selecting a bottle from France, Italy, Germany, or Spain may result in someone finding a new favorite wine. Include tasting notes, food pairing suggestions, or a cocktail recipe with the wine to help the recipient best enjoy your gift.

France

• Few bottles of wine are more festive than a bottle of Champagne, a sparkling wine which must come from the Champagne region of France to be labeled as "champagne;" all others must be labeled "sparkling wine." Champagne producers designate bottles by their level of sweetness, determined by how much residual sugar is in the final product: Brut (dry), Extra Dry, Sec (dry), Semi-Sec, and Doux (sweet).

Italy

• Italy produces a sparkling white wine similar to Champagne called Prosecco. The prosecco grapes are grown in the Alps, in northern Veneto, although some producers also use pinot blanc or pinot grigio grapes as well. If you decide to give Prosecco as a gift, include some peach puree or peach juice and a recipe card for the famous Italian cocktail, the Bellini (2 tbsp. peach puree in a Champagne glass, topped with Prosecco).

Germany

• The finicky Gewurztraminer grape produces a wine that is spicy in both aroma and taste, with fruit flavors like peach and lychee. Gewurztraminers get their fussy reputation from their tendency to be difficult to produce in high volume and their inability to withstand frost. The resulting wines, with a strong bouquet and taste profile, should be paired with foods that can stand up to their distinctive flavors; spicy Asian and Indian cuisine will offset the sweetness and compliment the spice.

Spain

• The most well-known Rioja wines are red, although white and rose Riojas are also produced in the Spanish region of the same name. The red Riojas are made from four types of grapes: tempranillo, garnacha tinta, graciano, and mazuelo which produce wines that are well-paired with meat dishes.