Where do you put a drop of champagne for luck? Which wine in the Languedoc is drunk with venison? What's the period of maturation for Mouton Rothschild? I can tell you all the answers (behind the ears, Fitou, 10-20 years) without a second's hesitation - but only because I've had a quick flip through the cards in Oenologus, a Trivial Pursuit-type board game. New to Ireland, it's the kind of present wine obsessives will love.
Handsomely packaged in a wooden box, the game quizzes players as they move their bottleshaped counters through the wine regions of France.
This version is bilingual, with English questions on one side of the cards and a quite different set of French teasers on the other - useful for anybody keen to brush up on the lingo in time for holiday visits to producers.
Oenologus is available in wine shops throughout the country and at Dublin Airport Duty Free, usually £45.99.
Corkscrews
STILL the best by far (minimum energy, minimum cork damage) is the Screwpull family, which seems to acquire new children every Christmas - this year with wooden boxes: very stylish but not strictly necessary. Prices range from about £16 for the Pocket Model to around £110 for the swanky Lever Model; one of the most useful is the Elite at about £25. Widely available from wine merchants and kitchen accessory shops.
Wine savers
YES, vacuum pumps really do help to keep the wine in an opened bottle fresh for a few days. Indispensable for solitary drinkers, cautious drinkers, couples with different wine tastes . . . The basic Vacuvin starter pack of pump plus two stoppers costs about £12; two extra stoppers are £3.50. Widely available from wine merchants, kitchen shops and hardware stores.
Stoppers
IT won't help to keep an opened bottle any fresher, but it sure looks good. The fan-shaped stopper made in brushed aluminium and rubber by Royal Copenhagen is the most beautiful one I've seen. £35 from Minima, St Stephen's Green. el4
Cocktail shakers
THEY'RE everywhere this year as the cocktail craze gathers force. A few that should turn heads as readily as their contents: a silver-plated beauty by Christofle (Weirs, £200); a meshcovered glass shaker with shiny silver top (Brown Thomas, £30); a trio of stainless steel classics in three sizes (Stock, £24.50, £25.50, £31.50).
Swizzle sticks
TO trail through that potent mix before you start sipping - and glass ones make a nice tinkling sound. In Stock you'll find swizzlers with blue dolphin ends (£1.50); at BTs there are some that end in a flourish of twisted glass (£3).