As Berskerers I’m sure we receive wine as a gift often given it’s an easy target for our friends, family, business associates, etc.
I’m sure from time to time they are a wine that you’ll never drink. And from time to time you are gifted a real cherry. More than likely (hopefully) you receive a nice bottle that’ll you enjoy and drink, possibly that evening or at some later date.
Here’s my question. Regardless of the category above. Is there any etiquette you follow for thanking the giver when the bottle is consumed?
Sort of out of the Seinfeld / Larry David catalogue here.
I received a bottle from a friend as a gift for organizing a dinner last year. Not something I would’ve bought for myself but we really enjoyed it with dinner this evening. Part of me wants to text a pic of the bottle letting them know we enjoyed the wine. But, is waiting 9-10 months to drink a bottle too long for non-Berskerers?
What if the shoe is on the other foot? You gift a bottle of wine…do you expect some note when it’s consumed?
I’m not gnashing teeth on this topic just curious what others think.
I routinely ask people to whom I gift bottles to give me their honest impressions once they drink it- positive or negative. So I love hearing from someone whenever they drink a bottle I gave them.
Who wouldn’t love a picture of you enjoying their wine regardless of when it happened. Just say “we have been waiting for the perfect occasion to open your gift and today was the day!”
I will usually drop a note to the giver when I consume the wine. Often many years later.
For me to receive a note back is not that important when I gift a bottle. People may consume it right away and not think to send another note after the initial thank you and if they stash it away they may not remember it was a gift when they pull it out. Most folks I know don’t use CT and have little recollection of how they procured a wine.
I be also like to try and pull bottles that people have gifted to drink with them. I grabbed a bottled a friend had picked up in Italy about 5 years earlier and it brought back good memories for him on his visit to the winery
Looking forward to @Sarah_Kirschbaum texting a photo of her sitting poolside with a big plastic glass of Lawn Chair Sauvignon Blanc on the rocks, to send to whomever gave her the six pack.
It sounds like you have very different friends than I do. Not that my friends aren’t great people and great friends, or that I don’t very much appreciate the spirit of any gifts I receive, but the ratio of “wines we will never drink” to “real cherry” is like 20-1.
I mostly box them up and give them to the priests at my Parish, so they find a good home, but I don’t have to drink them or feel guilty about dumping them. Back when I worked in a large office, I would sometimes put them anonymously in the break room with a sign saying “take one.” They seemed to disappear, though I have no idea who took how many.
But I agree, as to ones that you actually drink, sending a photo and/or note about you enjoying the wine is a very thoughtful and flattering thing to do.
As far as when I give wine as a gift, I never have any expectation about hearing back or how soon I hear back. Not that I wouldn’t love to hear someone say they opened the wine and loved it, of course, but I think you can’t have expectations like that, and you definitely shouldn’t ever ask (“Have you opened that wine I gave you yet??”)…
Alfert is still upset that I only “enjoyed” the bottle of Chinon he sent me. I did not rave about it sufficiently, and so he’s never sent me anything else.
If it’s something really good (a “cherry”) I might drop a note. But not for the everyday courtesy wines that are often the gift - I thank when given and then either drink those when nothing special needed/wanted, bring to another event, or use for cooking (depending on how good/bad the wine is likely to be).
Just so we are clear, it was Baudry Croix Boissee. The Cognoscenti here know. I think Kane was drinking like Jordan back then. I will admit he has become far more refined.
