The 12 Essential Wines of Christmas

Over that past two weeks I have been busily working on my holiday gift to you! It’s an order guide to the 12 Essential Wines of Christmas - a new eBook that is available on my website. While “Christmas” may not be politically correct, it’s the title I chose to celebrate my family’s new Canadian culture. We were European immigrants with traditions and beliefs that have changed over time. The celebrations we still honor along with our family, food and wine!

This eBook celebrates my recollections of Christmas. Good wine did not appear until I was bitten by the wine bug in 2009. That’s when my life changed. By 2012 I had completed WSET Advanced with Distinction and by 2017 successfully passed WSET Diploma and was working at Liberty Wine Merchants Park Royal.

Read and shop in your jammies, with your coffee in hand, and have the bottles arrive at your doorstep a few days later.

Having worked in wine retail for half a decade, I recall the rush and the panic of last minute shopping. Those three or four weeks leading up to Christmas were a whirlwind not only for the staff but also the customers.

​Creating an online order guide is my way of offering an alternative to the mayhem. Here you can read and shop in your jammies, with your coffee in hand, and have the bottles arrive at your doorstep a few days later. Ah – so much ease!

​From my personal experience, a minimum number of bottles of wine are required on hand for the holiday - 12 bottles, in fact. The math looks like this:

Good Wine Gal’s Bottle
Mix & Minimum ​

Bubbles          3 Bottles
White Wine    3 Bottles
Red Wine        6 Bottles

Don’t forget 
to add a bottle of Port

The 12 Essential Wines for Christmas

While my recommendations might not suit everyone, I chose bottles that I would happily drink – all very good styles of wine across all price points both international and local producers.

I was just reading in Decanter Magazine an article that suggested Barolo has the terrific pairing potential for Turkey Dinner on Christmas day. I’m happy because I recommended the 2012 Travaglini Gattinara Riserva which is a beautifully complex, medium bodied, aged red wine made from the Nebbiolo grape (called Spanna in this region of Piemonte)! ​And it’s a fantastic wine and great value at $75 a bottle. Good wine!

​More to come on the wines I chose for the 12 Essential Wines of Christmas.

HAPPY EVERYTHING!

Two private wine shops in Vancouver – Marquis Wine Cellar on Davie Street and Swirl Wine Shop in Yaletown – are offering the Good Wine Gal readers and community a 10% discount with a minimum order. Free delivery in Vancouver is also available. I can’t thank them enough for their support.

At the end of the day, life is what we make it. During the holiday season we can count on tradition and celebration, knowing that family as at the heart of it all. Sometimes road blocks appear and challenges rise up, but the human spirit is strong and as a community we can help each other. That is the real gift. So here is my gift to you and yours.

I hope the 12 Essential Wines of Christmas recommendations add to the quality of your holiday season.

​This is only my second eBook - ever! The question I still can’t answer is “How do you set a price on the value of an eBook like this?” Based on my philosophy “under-promise and over-deliver” I found it best to set the price at $10 and offer a 50% for the month of November. For $4.99 you get all my funny words, great wine recommendations, a couple of awesome food pairing suggestions and a valuable relationship with both Marquis Wine Cellar and Swirl Wine Shop along with a 10% discount on the minimum purchase and free delivery in the Vancouver vicinity.
 
If the 12 Essential Wines of Christmas gets you great value, could write a review for us? If you know someone who would appreciate the eBook, you have the option of gifting it to them by loading a Good Wine Gift card here.

That’s one way to share this with your wine loving friends in BC. The other way is they can sign up for a Good Wine Gal wine session or the Good Wine newsletter. When they do they will receive a copy of my eBook Good Wine and How to Find it for free.