This cabernet is worth a holiday splurge and is perfect as a gift

Many people stick to a strict per-bottle spending limit on their wine buying year round but allow a splurge over the holidays, whether for themselves to serve at a special dinner or for others as a gift.

A special bottle can make a convenient gifting solution, because fine wines are easy to wrap and just as appropriate for colleagues and clients as they are for family and friends. Best of all, high-quality wines are not simply objects. They are sensory experiences that are inherently social and meant to be shared, capable themselves of spreading the warmth of human connection that is at the heart of the holiday spirit.

Sparkling wines and red wines are both traditionally given as gifts, but of the two, full-bodied, barrel-aged red wines convey more gravitas. Those in greatest demand for gifting are onesproduced in regions with a reputation for producing expensive, sought-after wines.

In the United States, Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon is the blue-chip style of choice. Napa Valley has the perfect combination of terrain and climate to grow some of the world’s finest examples of cabernet sauvignon. Top-notch wines like this Louis M. Martini are dark, rich, and velvety in texture, featuring sumptuous flavors of blackberries and bing cherries, laced with subtle aromatic accents from their patient barrel-aging that evoke vanilla, chocolate, and coffee.

The most notable sensory distinction between wines at this elevated price point and less ambitious cabernets is unmistakable but hard to describe. Well-made wines like this one give a palpable sense of energy on the palate that simply isn’t present in lesser wines, a sensation similar to the vibrational resonance of a church bell that hangs in the air for seconds after the bell is struck.

In wine, this sensation is known as the finish and can last for minutes after each sip; the higher the quality of a wine’s grapes and craftsmanship, the longer the feeling lasts. It is this uncanny and uplifting sensation that makes fine wines such a treat, ideal for those who might not splurge on themselves often but deserve a touch of luxury in their lives.

Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, California

$46.99; 14.8% alcohol

PLCB Item #9077

Also available at: Total Wine & More in Claymont, Del., $39.99 (totalwine.com); Joe Canal’s Hammonton Discount Liquor Outlet in Hammonton, N.J., $39.99 (joecanalshammonton.com); Wine Legend in Cherry Hill, $41.99 (winelegendcherryhill.com).