With Father’s Day only two days away, many people will be looking for a bottle of something special to treat ‘dad’ with; but choosing a bottle of wine as a gift may not be as straightforward as might seem.

There are a number of points worth taking into consideration if you are going to get it right. The two main things to consider are your recipient’s personal preferences and, secondly, the condition of the wine in the bottle you are buying.

Wine is a very personal thing and it comes in various styles and flavours. What is one person’s ‘cup of tea’, or in this case ‘glass of wine’, might not be another’s. If you don’t already know, try and find out certain simple things about the intended person’s own particular taste and inclinations towards wine before buying it as a present.

For example, does he prefer red, rosé or white? If it’s white or rosé, does he like it dry, medium dry, medium or sweet? Does he like oak-aged whites? If he prefers red wine, does he like it light-bodied, medium- bodied or full-bodied? Other more general questions you need to consider include whether the wine will be consumed relatively quickly or whether he is a ‘collector’ who might want to lay it down and drink it in a few years’ time.

If it is to be consumed straight away, is it likely to be drunk on its own or with food?

Taking all these factors into consideration can definitely enhance the value of your wine gift in the eyes of its recipient.

Once the style of wine has been narrowed down, you need to make sure that the bottle you eventually end up buying is in good condition.

When purchasing your bottle, try to choose an establishment that looks like it has a fairly fast turnover of its wines and seems to know what it’s doing with regards to their handling and storage.

Beware of wines that are stored in direct sunlight or under bright (and hot) fluorescent strips and spotlights; especially if they seem to have been there for some time. Many shops (around the world) display their wines in the upright position as this is the most effective way of selling wine, but be cautious about what you pick up. Wines are perfectly okay in this position for about three to four months, depending on the ambient temperature within the actual store. But stock rotation is vital. Stored upright the wine’s cork will eventually dry out, as it is not in contact with the wine, and shrink slightly which could allow ingress of air, which will in turn oxidise the wine. Good stock rotation should avoid this. Beware also of the ‘dust gatherers’ ­– they might not be the bargain they purport to be.

Try and buy your wines from an outlet where the staff offers honest advice and recommendations, avoiding those who simply try to fob you off with old stock or something that’s on promotion because they are on commission. In an ideal world, nobody should know the wines that they are selling better than them!

However, if there is no one around to ask, as a general ‘rule of thumb’ when purchasing rosé wines, buy them as young as you can get them and avoid anything over 18 months old. Similarly, most dry white wines are at their best when drunk young, that is, within about two years from their vintage. There are, of course, a few exceptions with regards to white wines, especially white wines that are fuller flavoured, late picked, sweet or slightly higher in alcohol.

Chardonnay, for example, is a grape variety that can actually taste better with a few years’ age, but it depends on which wine region it comes from. But even wines made from these grapes have their limitations and a lot will depend on how they have been stored since their bottling. If that means years of bad storage, it could be disastrous for the liquid in the bottle. So if you are thinking of buying ‘older’ white wines, get some sound advice beforehand.

When it comes to purchasing red wines, they are a little bit hardier and in the main tend to age much better than white wines. However, certain red wines, usually the lighter-bodied ones, are better when drunk young. But in reality, most red wines will benefit from at least one to two years bottle age.

The powerful, full-bodied red wines, from big grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah (Shiraz), Merlot, etc, have ageing potential from anything between five years and 105 years (in very, very, very few instances), but it will depend on a number of factors, including which region it comes from, who the producer is, was it from a good vintage and how it has been or will be stored.

So, having purchased your bottle of preferred wine, hand it over to dad this Father’s Day to enjoy, along with these few well-chosen words with the compliments of Socrates:

“Wine moistens and tempers the spirits and lulls the cares of the mind to rest. It revives our joys and is oil to the dying flame of life. If we drink temperately and small draughts at a time, the wine distils into our lungs like sweetest morning dew. It isthen the wine commits no rape upon our reason, but pleasantly invites us to agreeable mirth.”