Wine column: Indubitably, these bottles of sparkling wear puffer jackets

Let's talk functional fashion.

For the holiday season, when you purchase a bottle of Saintly The Good Sparkling ($20) or Saintly The Good Sparkling Rose ($20) at BC Liquor Stores, it comes with a matching puffer jacket.

The chic little jackets are not only the ultimate bougie vinous accessory, but zip your bottle into it to provide insulation to keep the bubbly cold.

Saintly is referring to bottles wrapped in this trendy outerwear as the 'it girl' of the wine world.

Also, Saintly wants your bottle of wine to be as stylish as you are.

The brand is definitely positioning a bottle of sparkling in a puffer jacket as the ultimate hostess gift or the gift you give yourself because it is completely irresistible.

While you may initially purchase for the chichi wine-puffer novelty, you should also know that Saintly are quality, approachable and affordable wines.

The Good Sparkling has fresh and crisp bubbles with aromas and flavours of peach, pear and white flowers.

The Good Sparkling Rose is similarly effervescent with a pink hue and a raspberry-lime profile.

Saintly is a division of Arterra, the massive wine company that has other Okanagan wineries Jackson-Triggs, See Ya Later Ranch, Inniskillin, Sumac Ridge and Black Sage as well as international brands Ruffino of Italy, Kim Crawford from New Zealand and California's Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi.

Keeping with the hostess gift theme

Don't show up empty handed when you drop by anyone's home for happy hour, dinner, party or holiday gathering.

Since rose is always welcome for its delicious strawberries-and-cream profile and festive pink colouring, make it your go-to hostess gift.

Three such premium pinks are the Road 13 Honest John Rose 2022 ($21) from Oliver, CedarCreek Platinum Sparkling Rose ($42) from Kelowna and Mission Hill 2022 Border Vista Rose ($38) from West Kelowna.

More, more, more

While we've been talking about 'hostess gifts', a present of wine is not just for female party throwers.

Give a bottle to your host, because we're not gender biased here in the wine world, or anyone else you want to bless with a gift this Christmas season.

Cutting such a wide swath of gift giving requires a diverse list of top-tier bottles -- sparkling, rose, white and red.

So here goes:

- Hester Creek 2021 Old Vine Sparkling Brut ($35) from Oliver

- Free Form Blanc de Noir Sparkling 2018 ($40) from Summerland

- Blasted Church 2023 Blaufrankisch Rose ($26) from Okanagan Falls

- Burrowing Owl 2022 Viogner ($40) from Oliver

- Unshackled 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon by The Prisoner ($36) from California (comes in a swanky metal gift cylinder designed to look like a can of spray paint with graphics by Canadian street artist Ben Johnston)

- Louis Jadot 2022 Beaujolais-Villages red ($27) from France

- Black Sage 2021 Cabernet Franc ($33) from Oliver

- Culmina 2018 Hypothesis red ($50) from Oliver

Steve MacNaull is a NowMedia Group reporter, Okanagan wine lover and Canadian Wine Scholar. Reach him at [email protected]. His wine column appears every Friday afternoon in this space.