By this time of year you would normally have received a beautiful, full-color copy of the Schaefer's Holiday Gift Catalog. This year, however, in keeping with the politically correct "Spirit of Green" (saving trees by not using paper, saving fuel for Post Office trucks and saving green cash for the bottom line), we are not publishing a printed version. We have assembled an excellent variety of gift packages for every taste and every budget for the 2007 season. These gifts can be viewed and ordered at our website Let the professionals at Schaefer's make your gift giving a delight instead of a chore. We are here to serve you.

At a loss for a special gift idea? Looking to treat yourself? Introducing our Deluxe Tri-Wine wine club: our newest way to get special wines delivered straight to your door every month (or every other month, or quarterly - it's up to you). Our classic Tri-Wine has been a huge success for years, providing 3 different wines delivered each month with tasting notes, background on the grapes and wineries, serving suggestions, even the occasional recipe, all for only $45 including shipping, handling and taxes. These wines have focused on great values and offering recipients the chance to learn a lot about a number of approachable wines from around the world. Tri-Wine will continue as always, with Deluxe Tri-Wine as a higher-end option, including the same high-quality notes and selections from around the world, only focusing on smaller estate wineries with more limited production. In some months, this may be the only way to get certain wines anywhere in the Midwest. For now, we're kicking this off with a trip of favorites from our shelves and, at $75 per month, the Deluxe Tri-Wine is a true delight. Visit our website for more info or to sign someone up for this exclusive gift, or give us a call at (847) 677-9463.

We have received our extremely limited allocation of Domaine Raveneau's excellent Chablis. These wines are highly sought by collectors and often the best chance of getting your hands on a bottle is to order one in a fine restaurant. Brothers Bernard and Jean-Marie Raveneau produce a range of stellar Chablis from their 20-acre domaine. All the grapes are hand harvested (one of the very few remaining growers in Chablis to do so) and Jean-Marie prefers to pick early rather than late, with the aim of preserving the grapes' acidities. The grapes are fermented in stainless steel vats and the wines are then aged in large oak feuillettes.

Wine Spectator tasted barrel samples in March and had the following to say: "The Forêt is the fruitiest of the range, clean and round, with good concentration (89-91). The Monts Mains shows more richness and energy, with the characteristic mineral note (89-91). The Vaillons is a step up in intensity, with a coating of flesh wrapped around a core of lemon and stone (92-94)." Demand will definitely outstrip our limited supply, so please call or e-mail to request one today.

Domaine Raveneau 2005 Chablis 'Fôret', CAP $89.97/750ml (regularly: $99.95)

Domaine Raveneau 2005 Chablis 'Mont Mains', CAP $89.97/750ml (regularly: $99.95)

Domaine Raveneau 2005 Chablis 'Vaillons', CAP $89.97/750ml (regularly: $99.95)

The Cell Phones for Soldiers program was started in April of 2004 by 13-year-old Brittany Bergquist and her 12-year-old brother Robbie of Norwell, Massachusetts, turning used cell phones into calling cards for soldiers serving overseas. The program hopes to turn old cell phones into more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards for U.S. troops stationed overseas in 2007. To do so, Cell Phones for Soldiers expects to collect 15,000 cell phones each month through a network of more than 3,000 collection sites across the country.

 

Through December 31, 2007, Schaefer's is proud to join Santa Rita winery's efforts to raise $100,000 towards phone cards for our service men and women serving abroad this holiday season by serving as a dropoff location for used phones. Please stop by with your old phones and drop them in the box (located at the front of the store by the entrance); we'll take care of the rest.

For the adventurous gift giver/recipient, it might be fun to give someone a bottle of a less common grape such as Gewürztraminer or Albariño, Bardolino or Gigondas. If, on the other hand, you prefer to aim for more well-known, easy crowd-pleasers for gift giving, here are a couple of my own suggestions: Domaine Chandon Chardonnay: yes, I'm actually recommending a Chardonnay. It's not that I'm adverse to this grape, I simply prefer the clean, crisp style of French white Burgundies - and that's what this one has in abundance. There are hints of citrus, fig and honey with a touch of ginger on the finish and the clean flinty mineral that is standard to the Carneros appellation. Chandon, primarily known as a sparkling wine house, was one of the first California wineries to switch to a screw cap for its high-end wine, making this one as easy to open as it is to drink.

Calistoga Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon: this one is a no-brainer. Every year it is one of our favorites Cabs, smooth and elegant with terrific fruit. It is made from 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot with grapes coming from Blossom Creek Vineyard in Calistoga and the Louer Family Vineyard, just north of St. Helena in the Napa Valley. Aged 24 months in French oak, there's layers of plum and cherry fruit with tannins soft enough to please anyone. It's drinking well now but will also keep for another 2-4 years.

Domaine Chandon Chardonnay 2004, Carneros $18.97/750 ml (regularly: $21.95)

Calistoga Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, Napa $29.97/ 750 ml (regularly: $34.95)

We have two wonderful books new to our shelves: The Wine Maker's Answer Book by Alison Crowe and The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil. The first gives practical, easy-to-understand answers to every question and issue that stands between you and the perfect vintage - even if you don't plan to make your own wine any time soon, this one is a fun read. The second is my go-to book for learning about anything wine-related. Written in an incredibly engaging and informative style, we've been known to open the book up at dinner to learn more about what we're drinking and still be reading aloud 10 pages later! These are just two examples from our expanded book section - please visit the display in our Tasting Room or check our website for other terrific wine-related and food-related gift book ideas.

Wine Maker's Answer Book $14.95

The Wine Bible $19.95

Speaking of uncorking, if you're looking for additional gift ideas, we have a cool new corkscrew, the Boomerang, which features a built-in retractable foilcutter. We also recently experimented with the CorkPops opener and Screwpull's new Lever Model 400. The first looks like something James Bond might employ: you stab a long needle into the cork and then press the gas canister down while you pull up on the cork. Presto - cork is out with no trouble at all! The second would also work well in the world of James Bond: this elegant new lever model looks sort of like a spaceship and uses a double ratchet method for extracting the cork. It works with the same ease as other Screwpull products but looks a lot cooler.

 

If you're looking for other great ideas, whether as stand-alone gifts or just a little something to include with a bottle, the DropStop is a neat item, with an emphasis on neat. This reuseable circle of mylar slides into the open bottle and keeps the wine from dripping. Other items which can pop into an open bottle include the growing assortment of bottle stoppers we now carry, all $10 or less.

Boomerang Corkscrew $8.95

CorkPops $15.99

Screwpull Lever Model 400 $129.97 (regularly: $149.95)

DropStop $4.95 (includes 2)

The newest vintage of Flowers Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir has just been released and is sure to be as lovely as previous years. Flowers Vineyard & Winery is located in a tiny corner of the Sonoma Coast American Viticultural Area (AVA), about twelve miles north of the small coastal town of Jenner. Their three estate vineyards and winery sit atop ridges, between 1,150 and 1,875 feet in elevation, running parallel to and less than two miles from the Pacific Ocean. Walt and Joan Flowers, who owned a nursery in Bucks County, PA (where we used to live), always dreamed of combining their love of wine with their passion for growing things. In 1989, they bought their dream property and have been making wonderful Pinots and Chardonnays ever since. Their Pinot reflects all that we love about the Sonoma Coast: intensity, ripe berry flavors and crisp acidity. We first tried their wine in a restaurant and fell in love with its sharpness and bright fruit flavors and look forward to trying each new vintage as soon as possible - although this is one that you can put down for a few years, so you can savor the anticipation, too. This one will be in limited supply, so call or e-mail to order some today..but leave one for us!

Flowers Sonoma Coast 2006 Pinot Noir $49.97/750 ml (regularly: $57.95)

Join us this Saturday as we explore the wonders of Pinot Noir from around the world. This is a great opportunity to polish off your gift list. As always, the Saturday tastings take place 11:00-5:00 and are free. Hope to see you there!

That's all for this week. If we may be of any further service, please stop by our store at 9965 Gross Point Road in Skokie (for directions, click here), visit our website at http://www.schaefers.com, give us a call at 847-677-WINE (9463), 800-833-WINE (9463), or click here to contact us.