elfing it

June 15th is coming right up ... are you ready to celebrate the dads in your life? I usually have at least 3 to think about. This year it will be my actual dad, my son's dad (my husband), and my brother, because we usually get together with his family on Dad's Day-types of holidays.

I'll confess right now that I haven't decided what gifts to get - but at least for one of the dads (my husband), I know the direction I'll probably be taking: Wine. Yeah, we're winos. One year I got him a case of Bordeaux - all hand chosen for us by an exceptional local wine retailer in DC. In fact, I'll just give them a shout-out right now: Calvert Woodley (www.wineaccess.com/store/calvertwoodley). If you live near DC, these guys are expert-experts.

We'll get back to local wine retailers in a moment, but first, if you have a wine lover in your life my suggestion for today is: consider giving them a wine club subscription. In California, it seems like every winery has a "club" and if there's a special winery that he adores, then this route might work. But I recommend a club that includes a selection of wineries, and I'll list a few great options below.

My personal favorite is the Wine Garage Club (www.winegarage.net). The Wine Garage is a very cool retailer in Calistoga (Napa Valley) that is dedicated to uncovering spectacular, undiscovered wines for less than $25. Check out their web site and philosophy. I'm a cheap wino and I love to explore, so I'm a very big fan of these guys.

• Gift certificate to Wine.com (www.wine.com), the top online wine retailer in the US and one that gives you an incredible ability to sort wines based on preferences, regions, cost, ratings, etc. Full disclosure: A friend of mine is the CEO here - but this is also a fantastic retailer. (Say "Hi Rich" and tell him Sarah recommended you. So far he's never offered me any discounts, so maybe this will help.)
• WineQ (www.wineq.com)
• Bottlenotes (www.bottlenotes.com)
• There are also clubs featuring wine regions, like Santa Cruz Mountains Wine cCub (www.santacruzmountainswineclub.com)
• Sunset Magazine Signature Wines (www.signaturewines.com/sunset), a selection of thier favorites
• I also just read about Great ide Wine Unleashed (www.wineunleashed.com)

However, if you have an excellent local wine merchant, getting the dad(s) in your life a hand-picked case of special wines is also a great idea. Give the merchant a budget and have him put together a selection of unusual wines that your dad (husband, father-in-law, etc.) might never try on his own. We're still enjoying that case of Bordeaux, 7 years later. (Did I mention that it can be kind of a self-serving gift?)