Best Gifts for Wine Lovers
From wine aerators to bottle stoppers and decanters, there’s a dizzying array of gifts to choose from but no sense in giving anyone a gadget that’s going to end up in the junk drawer. Having worked in wine all these years, I can tell you there are a few accessories and devices that are absolutely indispensable and will be appreciated by anyone who loves wine.
WINE GLASSES
This one seems like a no-brainer since wine glasses end up breaking and the proper stem can greatly enhance your enjoyment of wine. If you’re curious about the different shapes and sizes, check out this interview I did with The Takeout. Wine glasses can get super expensive with hand-blown luxury lines like Zalto selling for $60 a stem or more but most of us live in the real world and need something more practical. Here are a few that I would recommend:
Riedel Vivant Series: Riedel created this affordable line for Target. $40 for a set of 4.
Riedel Ouverture Series: Another affordable line from Riedel available form various retailers, often in boxed sets. Williams-Sonoma has a sale right now on the Ouverture series where you get an entire set of 12 glasses (three different shapes) for $70 (normally $96) and free shipping.
Riedel Vinum Series: Higher-end line from Riedel that sells for twice the price as Vivant or Ouverture but it’s made from higher quality lead-free crystal so you get melodic chime when you flick it. The Vinum series also offers different shapes that are varietal specific.
Stolzle: This is another excellent yet affordable line for quality, lead free crystal stemware.
DECANTER
If you’re into wine, you need a decanter — period, end of story. Decanters help aerate a wine better than those bottle stopper gadgets plus they make any wine look like a million bucks. Aerating a wine softens the texture and opens the aroma. Think of it as yoga for wine. And speaking of yoga, pulling a cork from a bottle thinking it will allow a wine to breathe is like putting on yoga pants expecting your heart rate to go up without actually working out. In other words both you and the wine need to move. A decanter also works as a vessel to siphon wine from its sediment after extended aging but the vast majority of us are not drinking wines of this nature, it’s more to open up our younger red.. Decanters come in all styles, sizes and prices but I recommend a shape where you can pour without dripping or spilling. Here are a few suggestions:
You can also buy a decanter and wine glass set like this one and knock out two essentials in one gift.
CORAVIN SYSTEM
The Coravin works by inserting a super-thin needle into the cork allowing you to extract a glass of wine at a time while keeping the rest of the wine preserved. Does it work? Absolutely! Many top restaurants around the country are now able to offer older, premium wines by the glass with the Coravin. I would recommend this to anyone who collects wine but laments having to open a bottle without the desire or ability to finish the whole thing. You will need to purchase extra capsules beyond the base unit so keep that in mind. Pricing starts at $130 (on sale).
UNBREAKABLE WINE GLASSES
Put away the plastic Solo cups, here’s something better. This is an excellent gift for folks who want to drink wine by the pool or outdoors without having to worry about broken glass. Made from durable plastic, they look and feel like the real thing. You can buy them with our without stems.
STOCKING STUFFERS
A few small but highly useful wine accessories that make excellent stocking stuffers or include them with a bottle of wine for a very thoughtful gift.
Champagne Stoppers: Have an unfinished bottle of Champagne? Unfortunately, the spoon in the Champagne bottle trick won’t keep the bubbles from going flat. You need a closure that seals off the bottle. This is a good one for $6 from Crate and Barrel.
Wine Label Removers: I used these at Everest to remove the labels from commemorative bottles for our guests. They work best if you soak the bottle in warm water prior to removing them. It makes for a nice keepsake and souvenir.
Drip Stop Wine Foils: What looks like a simple piece of foil is actually an ingenious invention that prevents wine drips from staining your good table cloth and rug.
Vacu-Vin Wine Saver: it’s amazing how many gadgets there are to preserve an unfinished bottle of wine. The Vacu-Vin is still one of my favorites and it’s what I use at home.
Mascot King Wine Tumbler $10: cute and colorful wine tumblers that will keep wines and other beverages at temperature - hot or cold. Perfect for outdoor and poolside entertaining.
MAKE YOUR OWN SPARKLING ROSE
The Sparkling Rose Winemaking Kit ($70) is more of tongue-in-cheek thing but I thought it would make for a pretty funny gift — especially for a notorious rose drinker. It includes everything you need to make five bottles of sparkling rosé, even corks. All you need is a few empty champagne bottles and in just six weeks you’ll be ready to enjoy your own sparkling rose.
THE DURAND WINE OPENER
When it comes to opening everyday bottles of wines, I still prefer the classic waiter’s corkscrew but for older wines with more fragile corks, you need to bring out the heavy artillery. Before the Durand, I would need to use an Ah-So to extract the cork, taking care to not disintegrate it. The Ah-So would loosen the cork from the sides of the bottle and then I would insert a corkscrew to shore it up and pull it out. The Durand combines both efforts in one seamless step. It’s an excellent gift for anyone who collects and drinks older wines. Available for $125.