There's a whole range of interesting and engaging gifts available for wine lovers.
Some are unavoidable classics – corkscrews and wine pourers are always welcome. If you know someone who fancies a spot of Camembert with their Cabernet Sauvignon then a cheese and wine serving set with a knife could be the perfect gift.
Others can be a little more quirky, such as the plastic, googly-eyed aliens that cling to your glass and help you to identify it in a crowded room.
Make a wine-lover’s holidays with this innovative Christmas gift. Picture by Daniel Nel.
Buying the wine may be straightforward, where to keep it can be a problem. Mensa, the ultimate book club wine is taking storytelling to the next level through digital innovation and has come up with a novel gift pack for this festive season that doubles up as a nifty ice bucket.
The gift pack literally unfolds into a cooler making it ideal as a fun stocking filler or as a centerpiece for sharing at the Christmas table. All you need to do is add the ice.
A sister range to the popular Balance and Survivor wines, Mensa is the first South African wine supported by an augmented reality app for Android and iOS. When scanned using the Mensa Wine App on your smartphone, the Mensa label comes to life as a book to reveal her full story.
Mensa Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. Picture by Daniel Nel.
Storytelling and books resonate strongly in this new wine range and are captured perfectly by the payoff line: Live a great story. The label features ‘every woman’ relaxing in the signature Mensa chair surrounded by books with a glass of wine and her trusty dog looking on.
Mensa offers wine lovers yet another unexpected twist.
The wines are sealed with the revolutionary Helix cork closure by Amorim that allows you to twist open and reseal the wine by hand, keeping it perfect for the next glass.
Just pull, twist and pour and enjoy all the benefits of cork and glass - quality and sustainability coupled with user-friendly, resealable convenience.
They’ve been been lauded for innovative design and packaging at the 2018 International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) Design & Media Awards in London.
Mensa fanned ice bucket. Picture by Daniel Nel.
The gift pack is available exclusively at Checkers stores countrywide at a festive price of R 74.99.
You will also find it at the Overhex Winery & Bistro if you are passing through Worcester in the Western Cape over the holidays.
For more information visit www.mensawines.com