How to give Sonoma County wines that come with a great story

When someone gives you a present that looks like a bottle of wine could be inside, do you instinctively shake it?

Of course you do.

In Wine Country, vino is the most coveted gift of all because there's usually a good backstory that goes with a delectable bottling.

Here are a few gift ideas, replete with stories that will no doubt amuse those on your holiday list.

Bottling: Martinelli Jack Ass Hill Zinfandel, a full-throttle sassy zin (martinelliwinery.com)

Backstory: Jack Ass Hill has a 60 percent slope and it's the steepest vineyard in Sonoma County. This degree of slope isn't even legal in Sonoma County anymore, but the teetering hill at Martinelli's winery in Windsor was grandfathered in.

Vintner Lee Martinelli said the quirky name - Jackass Hill - may lead you to assume that a donkey was involved in plowing the 3-acre vineyard but that isn't the case. The name dates back to the 1970s, and it has to do with a snarky comment made by Helen, the late second wife to Martinelli's late father Leno. Helen once groused “only a jackass would farm that hill.”

Bottling: Schramsberg sparklers, with the crème de la crème the J. Schram. It's well worth the splurge for those with disposable income. (schramsberg.com)

Backstory: Calistoga's Schramsberg Vineyards still has a riddler who twists bottles of bubbly by hand. Riddlers, for the uninitiated, turn the bottles to move the sediment created during the second fermentation toward the cork. Sediment will collect over time so it has to be removed. In this age of automation, many will find it enchanting that Schramsberg keeps up this storied tradition.

Bottling: Anaba chardonnay, pinot noir and Rhone wines. (anabawines.com)

Backstory: The most interesting aspect of these bottlings is how influential a factor the wind is in crafting them. The winery is named after the “anabatic winds,” which are warm winds that blow up a mountain slope. Glider pilots, incidentally, rely on them for flight. In the world of wine these winds offer up a breezy coolness, slowing the ripening process and imparting crisp flavors.

When you give the gift of wine this year, remember to package it with a story.

Wine writer Peg Melnik can be reached at peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5310.