During the holidays, one of the gift ideas I strongly recommended was a wine aroma kit. The basic premise is that it isolates the scents found in wine so that a mortal can tell the difference between hazelnut and almond by scent (rather than by candy bar wrapper).

If you can't afford a wine aroma kit, there is a free alternative: faking it. Writer & Culinary Student, Sophie Brickman, published a clever primer for those looking to talk a big game about their palate without actually knowing the first thing about wine tasting.

Having spent a fair amount of time in St. Helena with friends who grew up in the wine industry, I can sympathize. You want to sound educated. And you don't want your opinion shot down by a real expert (or purported expert). Perhaps every year, one of my new year's resolutions will be to come up with a new, default comment about a wine I can't say anything about. For 2009, if you hear me say: "the nose reminds me of clam digging in Pismo Beach", then you'll know I have no idea what I'm tasting. And it will be our little secret.

You can read Sophie's entire post here; it's worth the read!

Before I expound on the greatness of this gift, let me start by saying last Christmas, I was a cynic. We sold a lot of wine aroma kits, but I thought they were kitschy. The idea was cool, but the execution seemed inauthentic. If you've seen the movie French Kiss (which I was forced to watch on a plane a decade ago), there is a scene where Kevin Kline [+ his attempt at a French accent] is showing Meg Ryan the family winery in France. They come across an old wooden box filled with flowers and herbs that represent different scents you might experience in wine. Cheesy as the movie was, the wine aroma box looked cool. Which introduces us to another principle of shopping for "the guy who has everything":

Help him educate himself.

The guy who has everything probably enjoys fine wines, and already knows a fair amount about wine. He knows the important labels, growing regions, buzzwords associated with tasting, and he owns nice versions of the basic accoutrements (corkscrew, stemware, decanter, etc.).

But few gentleman can identify the difference between Black Currant and Black Cherry. That is what the Le Nez Du Vin (The Scent of Wine) kits are all about. Isolating aromas found in wines into small, numbered vials with an in-depth instruction booklet explaining where you're likely to experience the scent. The kits range from the 6 Aroma Kit ($40) to the 54 Aroma Master Kit ($399) with a few options in between. 

Last Christmas, the mother of a good friend gifted an aroma kit to him. At a dinner party I attended, they left the kit out, and immediately, guests started pulling out the little vials guessing what the various scents were. For a while, the Kit was the life of the party. Your wine-swilling gentleman may already have a warthog corkscrew or a decanter designed by a former Sommelier of the Year, but this gift is more than the sum of its scents -- it is a gift of knowledge (cue dramatic music).