Wine & Spirits - December 2013 - (Page 19)

HOLIDAY GIFTS R BY L IKE YOU An EAL PEOP Pay homage to our prehistoric forerunners with the Wine-O-Saur, handmade from Baltic birch plywood. It ﬁts standard 750ml bottles and comes in three shades: dark walnut, beeswax polish and unﬁnished. Enopaleontologists, take note. $45 at etsy.com/shop/ thebackpackshoppe. -C.G. EL I N V E NT E D Excavate Your Cellar gelo Cacchio ne VERSEUR 4-in-1 wine All in One opener $24.99 No more digging through junk drawers for tiny accessories-the Verseur Full Bottle Service corkscrew comes with a stylishly concealed pour spout, foil cutter and black rubber stopper. It's available via Quirky, a crowdsourcing platform that steers user-generated designs from concept to execution. Available in black and red; $25 at quirky.com. -C.G. Loam Baby Breathometer Yes, the ideas pitched on ABC's Shark Tank do often come to fruition. Charles Michael Yim pitched Breathometer, his iPhone breathalyzer, on an episode in September. It runs on a single AAA battery and plugs into an iPhone's audio jack. Beyond providing your blood alcohol level, it can tell you how long it will take you to reach sobriety and even ﬁnd you a cab. Breathometers started shipping this October: $49 at breathometer.com. -L.S. R. H. Drexel doesn't exist-that's a pseudonym for the wine industry insider who writes and publishes Loam Baby, a zine that digs into California wine culture. The ﬁrst issue, harking back to '90s zines with its grainy cover, bare-bones design, decidedly unprofessional photos and occasional comic strip, seemed like it might be a ﬂash in the pan. But "Mr. Drexel" now has three issues under his belt. Loam Baby publishes surprisingly candid interviews with both up-andcomers and winemaking veterans. The most recent issue focused on Napa Valley, and included a punchy conversation with Jayson Woodbridge of Layer Cake and Hundred Acres, alongside some suggested playlists that winemaker Steve Matthiasson created for various Napa Valley sub-appellations. Oakville, for example, gets Built to Spill, Stereolab and Sonic Youth. PDFs of each issue are available for free online. The hardcopy versions would make great gifts for a wine nerd who thinks she has everything; they run $11 to 15 at loambaby.com -L.S. Geijer Glögg Liqueur While our winters may not be as dark or long as they are in Scandinavia, thanks to Martin Geijer, maker of Geijer Glögg, we now possess a liqueur version of their secret weapon against the cold. Traditionally made by mulling sweetened red wine with spices (usually cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger and citrus peel), glögg tends to be heavy, warming stuff. Geijer has retooled his family recipe to make a more reﬁned version by distilling and infusing spices into neutral spirit instead of wine. The spirit smells like a clove-studded orange. Alone and at room temperature, it tastes like lightly sweetened spice tea. The magic happens when it's heated up or served in a hot toddy. It's bottled holiday cheer. -L.B. Geijer Glögg, San Francisco, CA; 20% abv, $32 Oak Couture If you've ever looked at a wine barrel and thought, "That's cool, but can I wear it?" you're in luck. California-based Woodzee introduces its oak barrel sunglasses this December, made from recycled barrels provided by Robert Mondavi's Private Selection. $120 at woodzee.com. -E.T. WINE & SPIRITS DECEMBER 2013 19 http://www.etsy.com/shop/ http://www.quirky.com http://www.breathometer.com http://www.loambaby.com http://www.woodzee.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2013

Wine & Spirits - December 2013
Editor’s Note
Happenings
Contents
Fined & Filtered
Acid Trips
The Great Whiskey Shortage of 2013
Spirits
Gadgets and Gi
New Destinations
Where to Eat & Drink in Seattle
Turning Champagne into Wine
Barolo & Formaggio
Douro, No Apologies
Walla Walla Cabernet
The Best for $10 or Less
Overview
Champagne
US Sparkling Wine
US Cabernet Sauvignon
Alsace
German Riesling
2011 Vintage Port
Barolo & Barbaresco
Rioja
US New Releases
International New Releases
Wine & Spirits Top 100

Wine & Spirits - December 2013