Gift-giving season has arrived with its usual fanfare: fantastic sales, “White Christmas” muzak, craft fairs of all sorts and every imaginable incarnation of the North Pole crew.

For my part, I’ve taken both the Buy Local pledge and the Simplify-the-Holidays pledge. The two occasionally conflict, of course (wouldn’t it be simplest to buy nothing?), but (apologies to Emily Dickinson), I dwell in contradiction — especially during the holidays.

One happy common ground is the consumable gift, my favorite kind both to get and to give: treats to buoy up the spirit when the sun barely manages to clear the horizon. And no residue to clutter up the house. Wine fits the bill perfectly.

Now that our chancellor has so spectacularly fulfilled her mandate to put Davis on the map, all your friends and relatives will no doubt doubly appreciate a gift from our notorious town. I’ve made a list of local wines and good local things to go with them, pairings that may (partially) redeem our region, nourish bodies and souls, support the local economy — and not break the budget.

A longtime favorite that a surprising (given its easy availability) number of folks still don’t know about is the fruity-but-dry Capay Valley Sparkling Viognier. Pair it with two champagne flutes from the SPCA thrift store, which you’ve washed and polished. Easy, elegant, useful — and your total cost will be about $15. You can, of course, use the bottle-plus-glasses idea for any wine or beer gift. The SPCA selection is impressive.

Simas Family Vineyard’s Capay Valley White (available at the Davis Food Co-op) is a really versatile, food-friendly blend that deserves a place on your table as well as the tables of your friends and relatives. Both the ’09 and the newly released ’10 are available.

I think I like the ’10 slightly better, but I might just choose the ’09, also delicious, for its beautiful and festive amber color. Pair it with half a wheel of Cowgirl Creamery Pierce Point (a cheese washed in Moscato and rolled in dried herbs) for an amazing $20 gift.

The hearty Putah Creek Barbera (Co-op or Putah Creek Winery), a local red made with Italian grapes, pairs perfectly with pasta. I suggest adding to the bottle a box of Jovial spaghetti, a new product at the Co-op made from einkorn, a whole-grain, 12,000-year-old precursor of wheat.

I’m not a huge fan of whole-wheat pasta, but this is terrific. (OK, it’s imported from Italy, so not exactly a local product, but since I’m half-Italian, I make an exception for Italian imports, another of the contradictions in which I dwell.)

If you want to avoid imports, pair the Barbera with a bag of amazingly flavorful sun-dried tomatoes from either Annie Main or the Changs at the Farmers Market.

Nothing better than a bottle of Tempranillo (a Spanish grape that grows well in our area — try the light and lively Berryessa Gap — Valley Wine Co.) with a chunk of Manchego cheese. The latter comes from Spain but you can substitute local Nicasio Valley Organic Reserve, available at the Farmers Market or the Co-op. You’ll want to add to this a jar of Annie Main’s Quince Juniper chutney (Farmers’ Market, Good Humus Farm). Depending on the size of your cheese chunk, this could come in under $25.

The deep and fruity Marr Cellars Cuvee Patrick Petit Sirah (Co-op, Valley Wine Co.) would be an excellent complement for an Indian meal. Wrap it with a small package of red lentils, a jar of Dianne Madison’s persimmon chutney (Yolo Bulb at the Farmers Market) and a simple dahl recipe for an unusual $20 gift.

Bob Marr, by the way, will be doing a wine-maker’s dinner at Monticello, 630 G St., on Saturday, Dec. 10. Call (530) 792-8066 for reservations.

The next suggestion is a little tricky — a bottle of the round, spicy, beautifully balanced Fitzpatrick Merlot (available Saturday at the Farmers’ Market) with a chocolate-merlot cupcake from Let Them Eat Cake (310 C St., just across the street from Farmers Market).

It’s easy enough not to open a beautifully sealed bottle of wine, but just try to get that cupcake home without succumbing to temptation. Solution: buy two. Under $20, without the second cupcake.

What goes better with wine than music? An appropriate pairing for about $25 would be a bottle of Rominger West Tailgate Red (the logo will remind your friends that Davis is famous for bicycles as well as pepper spray) with a copy of “Misner and Smith Live at Freight and Salvage” (available from their website or from Armadillo Music), since Misner and Smith perform frequently at the RW Winery.

If your recipient’s taste veers toward more “serious” music, classical guitarist Elizabeth Busch also performs there regularly (you can hear her Thursday at 4:30 p.m.), and her “Romance de la Guitarra” is one of my own favorite accompaniments to a nice bottle of red.

For $5 more, a pairing that includes another wine from Fitzpatrick, a really delightful red Basque blend called Tippitonia. Its country-homey-small café feel would pair perfectly with local singer-songwriter Rita Hosking’s just-released, entirely accessible and stunningly metaphorical CD, “Burn.” Together, this wine and music will have your gifted one singing long after Christmas chestnuts have stopped blaring from big-box store machines.

In that same price range, this gift combination requires some effort on your part: a bottle of the elegant, food-friendly Traverso Syrah (Nugget) accompanied by home-made gnocchi and a jar of pesto (you can find local pesto easily if you didn’t grind your own when basil was in season). This trio would make an Italian meal that your recipients could rave about for months.

Easier, if a bit more expensive, pair a bottle of Senders Carneros Pinot Noir (Valley Wine Company) with a bag of dried wild mushrooms. Porcini would be my first choice here. Think of the glorious risotto dinner your friend could work up with these first-class ingredients.

For the relative who doesn’t drink wine, there’s an excellent alcohol-free but wine-related pairing that you can pick up at the Farmers Market: a bottle of Fitzpatrick live vinegar (the best vinegar imaginable) with a bottle of Yolo Press olive oil, my own EVOO of choice, which is saying a lot given my tolerance for Italian imports.

Finally, for that $100 gift, here’s an extravagant morning-evening pairing. Wrap a 4-ounce bag of 2nd flush Darjeeling (Tea List, 222 D St.) together with a bottle of ’07 Fiddlehead Lollapalooza Pinot Noir (at the Fiddlehead office, 606 Peña Drive). “Lollapalooza” means “the best of its kind” — a good description for this duo. Need something about half the price? Substitute the Fiddlehead 728 Pinot Noir wrapped with half the tea.

For a wonderful gesture of solidarity, give one of these pairings to your favorite Occupy activist and thank her (or him) for putting herself on the line.

— Reach Susan Leonardi at [email protected] Comment on this column at www.davisenterprise.com

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