From sparkling to cabernet, from stemware to corkscrews, check out gift ideas for your favorite wine-loving friends and family.
By David Ehrenfried
Buying a gift for wine-loving friends and family can be daunting. Here are some favorite gift suggestions that nearly everyone who loves fine wine will enjoy. None of these gifts cost more than a few hundred dollars. Of course, it’s possible to spend many hundreds or even thousands of dollars on wine, especially top bottles from leading producers. But spending extravagantly isn’t necessary to give gifts your favorite wine lovers will appreciate and enjoy.
Wine Suggestions
Champagne and Sparkling Wine
Wine tops this list. What kind of wine? If you know what wine the recipient really likes, or if there’s a particular one you know has special meaning or significance, go for that. But if you’re unsure of the recipients’ favorite wines or tastes, give French Champagne.
Champagne is festive, fun, sophisticated, and delicious. Importantly, your recipient can open the bottle right away and expect it to taste as the winemaker intended. The bottle also can be stored away in cool, dark place and enjoyed up to three or four years later. Champagne pairs beautifully with a wide range of foods and cuisines. It can be served with appetizers, main courses, or some desserts, or enjoyed just by itself. Quality Champagne’s fine bubbles and bright, fresh fruit flavors persist refreshingly for hours.
Like many luxuries, French Champagne can be pricy. Expect to pay between $50 and $90 for a good non-vintage (NV) bottle of Champagne. (NV means the Champagne was made from grapes harvested during multiple years.) There’s also vintage Champagne (made from grapes harvested in the same year), but its cost pops. For the right person, though, such extravagance won’t go unappreciated. As for which brand of Champagne to give, it’s hard to go wrong sticking to leading producers, such as Billicart-Salmon and Pol Roger (two of my favorites), among others like Piper-Heidsieck, Charles Heidsieck, Veuve-Cliquot, Louis Roederer, Moët & Chandon, Henri Billiot, Tattinger, Ruinart, and Perrier-Jouët. There are many other excellent producers. A knowledgeable salesperson should be able to help.
If Champagne’s expense puts it out of the question, there are less expensive sparkling wines. Crêmant is French sparkling wine made outside Champagne. More affordable options include cava from Spain and sparkling wines from California, Oregon, New Mexico, and Virginia.. Some leading California sparkling wine producers include Schramsberg, Sharffenberger, and J, as well as several producers owned in whole or part by well-known Champagne houses and bearing their names. These sparkling wines are generally very tasty and less expensive than French Champagne, although some more limited bottlings rival the steep prices and superior quality of top Champagne.
Bottle of Red, Bottle of White
If you prefer to give someone a special bottle of red or white still wine, I suggest giving premium wines that can be enjoyed fully when they’re released, such as pinot noir or chardonnay from California or Oregon. Don’t give expensive bottles of recent vintages of barolo, Bordeaux, cabernet sauvignon, or other high tannin wines with an expectation that such wines could be enjoyed at their best now. People often drink these wines too soon and are disappointed, wondering why they’re so expensive. By contrast, nearly all California pinot noir and chardonnay wines are ready to be fully enjoyed when released. There are many outstanding choices online and in good wine stores that typically sell in the $30-$100 range. Better pinots are easy drinking, having smooth textures and deep cherry and red or dark berry flavors among other tastes and aromas. Earthy and herbal flavors are also common. The best can be ethereal. My favorites come from the Oregon’s Willamette Valley and California’s Sonoma, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Monterey counties.
Bold Reds to Drink Now
If your recipient prefers more intense red wines, consider these kinds of recent vintage wines that often can be enjoyed when released: syrah from California, Washington State, France, and Australia (usually labeled Shiraz); Spanish rioja reserva or gran reserva; and Italian chianti classico riserva or gran riserva. Another favorite of mine to consider is chateauneuf-de-pape, a beguilingly delicious blend of grenache, syrah, and other grapes from France’s Southern Rhône region. It costs about the same as Champagne.
California Chardonnay
There is a bewildering assortment of California chardonnay. But for a gift, my suggestion is to zero in on those made in Sonoma or Santa Barbara counties. Some, like many from the Sonoma Coast and Santa Barbara County, are steely and light, like French chablis, with apple, pear, and other flavors. Others are more full-bodied with a buttery texture and apple, stone fruit, and very noticeable oak and vanilla flavors. Some are in between. Most premium bottles will cost between $20 and $90, but there are some that cost more.
Lighter Whites
A lighter, more citrusy alternative to chardonnay is sauvignon blanc, in particular sancerre, which comes from the town by the same name in France’s Loire Valley. Sancerre wines generally cost between $25 and $60. There are other excellent sauvignon blanc wines from many regions around the world, but good sancerre has cache and remains the standard by which all similarly made sauvignon blanc wines may be compared. Sancerre is a lovely gift for wine lovers who like fresh and uplifting dry wines with bright, scrumptious combinations of lemon, melon, and crisp apple and other fruit flavors and aromas along floral scents.
Wine Gizmos
A great gift for those who enjoy a glass or two of good wine at home but worry about leftovers going bad is Coravin. This device allows you to pour small amounts of wine without uncorking the bottle, keeping the rest fresh for months or even years. It’s ideal for people who want to sample aging wines or try from multiple bottles, similar to how wine bars and restaurants expand their wine-by-the-glass options.
Coravin works by using a patented method to insert a long hypodermic-like needle through the cork to pour wine while simultaneously injecting harmless and tasteless argon gas. The argon gas displaces the space left in the bottle by the poured wine, protecting the remaining wine from contact with air. Coravin devices sell for between $100 and $300, depending on discounts attachments, and the number of gas cartridges.
If you’re looking for an affordable gift for a wine lover, consider a battery-operated corkscrew. Popular brands like Rabbit, Oster, and Cuisinart range from $30 to $125 and remove corks automatically at the push of a button. However, they may crumble older corks. For aged wines, an Ah-So cork remover is effective and typically costs $25 to $50. It features two metal prongs that slide between the cork and bottle neck, allowing for safe removal. The Ah-So also serves as a bottle opener and is compact for storage.
Wineglasses
Serving wine in clean, attractive glasses enhances its appearance and taste. For still wines, choose clear glasses with large bowls (4-5 ounces) that narrow slightly at the top to allow the wine to breathe. While high-end glasses are often designed for specific wine types – large bowls for reds and smaller for whites or desserts – a midsized bowl (18-22 ounces) works well for all types, including Champagne. I typically pour three ounces at a time.
Wine glass prices vary tremendously, ranging from under $30 to over $200 for two. You can find wide choices among wine glasses online as well as in wine, kitchen supply, and department stores. There are many reliable, modestly-priced brands, such as Spieglau, Zweisel, and store brands like Williams-Sonoma and Wine Enthusiast. Some pricier brands include Riedel, Zalto, Glasvin, Gabriel-Glas, and Josephinenhütte. They all make great gifts.