36 Best Gifts for Wine Lovers 2021 Leave a comment

Unlike a bottle of wine, which you enjoy and then it’s gone, great glassware can be used over and over again. “I was given a two-pack of Zalto Universal glasses as a Christmas gift from a distributor while working at the Breslin,” says Carla Rza Betts, certified sommelier and co-founder of An Approach to Relaxation. “It changed my glassware game forevermore. Zalto Universals are simply the best glass to get a clear look at both reds and whites. They allow you to get lost in the aromas within the glass while exhibiting the wine in an almost artlike way.” Betts isn’t the only person who loves Zaltos. Most of the sommeliers and wine experts we spoke to rave about these wineglasses, which they consider the gold standard. Wine trader Cameron Hughes, of CH Wine Co., calls them “beautifully executed and able to relay subtle nuance and mouthfeel impression.” While he warns that the glasses are fragile and need to be gently handwashed, Chris Leon, owner and wine director of Leon & Son in Brooklyn puts his in the dishwasher — he’s just very careful about it. Brittany Villafañe, head sommelier at DB Bistro Moderne in NYC says, “I always appreciate glassware, and having sets of grape varietal-focused glassware is a real treat for entertaining and enjoying wine. Zalto is, for me, the best glassware on the market.”

[Editor’s note: These wineglasses are currently sold out everywhere. If you’re willing to pay a premium, there is a third-party vendor on Amazon selling them for 60 percent more than normal. Unless you’re truly desperate, though, we’d recommend waiting — or just getting the classic Libbey glasses below.]

For the friends and family you love — but not quite enough to spend $59 a glass — there are these budget-friendly, yet elegant glasses from Libbey. Sommelier John Condon of French Louie in Brooklyn says Libbey’s wine goblets are great because “a glass needs to be functional first and everything else next,” adding, “Libbey’s Vina line of wineglasses is very classically shaped and elegant, but also reassuringly sturdy.”

Both Roman Roth, winemaker and partner at Wölffer Estate Vineyard and Villafañe recommended gifting a high-quality wine decanter from the centuries old brand Riedel. One of the best wine-related gifts that Roth remembers receiving is the Swan decanter from Riedel. “It is a showstopper. Your dinner guests will be in awe. The most elegant decanter in the world,” he says. Villafañe’s choice, the Riedel O decanter, is a touch less extravagant but equally as effective. “It’s not only sleek, it is practical and easy to use when pouring wine for your guests,” Villafañe says.

Marissa Copeland, head sommelier at Junoon, suggests a much less expensive decanter, which also happens to be her personal favorite. For those on the hunt for a Riedel dupe, this one costs a fourth of the price of Villafañe’s preferred Riedel O decanter and looks nearly identical.

Not all wine drinkers are fans of stemless glassware, but these short, less traditional (and less expensive) glasses from Bormioli give a dinner party a European feel. Hannah and Marian Cheng of Mimi Cheng’s use them while hosting dinner parties because they “remind us of drinking and eating tapas in Madrid. They’re elegant and simple.” Joanna Goddard of the blog Cup of Jo feels similarly: “Whenever my husband and I drink wine from these glasses at home, I feel like we’re transported to a little bar in Barcelona. They’re charming, light, and just feel good in your hand.” Jill Bernheimer, owner of Domaine in Los Angeles, advises that people save them for less-complicated wines, like chilled reds and pet nats — but if you’re gifting them to a wine lover, they probably already know that.

If your wine enthusiast is more of a picnicking type, this Le Creuset wine-cooler sleeve, which Hughes gives a thumbs up, uses two removable gel packs to chill a bottle of wine in 30 minutes — and keep it cold for another 90 minutes.

If the person you’re gifting is really starting to collect bottles (and if you know them well enough to know this particular appliance is something they would want), this Ivation wine fridge is not too big, not too small, and comes at a very nice price point. “It’s quiet, compact, and super easy to set up. It was able to reach 50 degrees Fahrenheit within 20 minutes of plugging it in, which meant I was on to my third bottle of chilled white wine an hour after it arrived on my doorstep,” says Katie O’Byrne, the director of recruiting at Kitchen Culture and former sommelier at Otium in downtown Los Angeles.

Villafañe suggests giving a marble wine coaster to keep their table, or table linens, protected from drips. Her pick is a steal and a good option for pretty much everyone who drinks wine, because nobody likes stains.

“There is nothing better than getting to drink wine where it’s from, with the food that it was born to be enjoyed with,” says Alexis Schwartz, sales representative at Brooklyn-based wine importer Zev Rovine Selections. But eventually you have to leave wine country, and that’s a little less painful if you have a way to haul some wine home with you. Schwartz’s dad got her a 12-bottle wine suitcase for Christmas one year, and it’s changed her wine travels. “Rather than praying during my flight that nothing has broken in my bag, the wine suitcase keeps everything safe and sound,” she says. “I usually want to bring back interesting spirits or rare wines I find during my travels. Win-win, it only costs me the extra baggage fee.” Hughes recommends this lightweight 12-bottle wine carrier. It’s “an economical and effective solution (think heat protection) to traveling with wine. And it features both styrofoam and pulp inserts,” she says.

Copeland is a forever fan of the humble but effective waiter’s corkscrew, which she calls “simple and direct.” This set of four would make a wonderful gift for wine lovers who tend to lose their corkscrew or those who like to keep one on hand at all times.

If your wine enthusiast has an extensive collection of older bottles, surprise them with a Durand corkscrew. It’s “the best corkscrew in the world to open even the most mature bottle of wine safely,” says Roth, the winemaker at Wölffer Estate. As Morgan Harris, head sommelier at Aureole, explains, “The Durand basically combines the classic waiter’s corkscrew with horizontal compression from a forked Ah-so-style wine opener. This way, you can’t rip the middles out of your corks if they happen to be crumbly, nor can you accidentally push the cork into the bottle if they happen to be a little loose.”

If your favorite wine lover has limited mobility or strength, or simply doesn’t feel like vacuum-pumping a bottle of wine to keep it fresh, André Hueston Mack highly recommends Pulltex, which creates an airtight seal, keeps wine fresh for up to ten days, and features a day indicator so you can easily remember when it was first opened. “And it works unbelievably well for sparkling wine,” Mack says.

The Fante’s Champagne stopper will make sure no bottle of Champagne (or other sparkling wine) goes to waste. “This stopper is my favorite because it holds the carbonation very well and is easy to use,” says Joshua MacGregor, former sommelier at DB Bistro Moderne by Daniel Boulud. “I ultimately favor it over other stopper styles because the rubber stopper mimics the pressure the original cork had on the wine the best, and the hinge clasp makes it very hard to accidentally slip off and lose the carbonation of the wine.”

Leon loves these gorgeous wine stoppers. They don’t necessarily do anything fancy, but they look so good. If you know the person you’re gifting to already has the gadgets to preserve open bottles (or rarely saves wine for more than a day or so), consider these beauties. “They add a little drama without being too much,” Leon says. He also endorses the company’s bottle openers, which work for beer, of course, but also for wines with that similar style of lid. We think one of each would make a beautiful present.

Our experts mentioned a bunch of delicious and giftable food pairings for red, white, and bubbly wines, including good salumi, paté, terrines, and Marcona almonds. But two experts — Hughes and Copeland — independently told us that freshly popped popcorn with salt and real butter is a perfect match for crisp white and sparkling wines. While this might be a funny gift on its own, they’ll certainly appreciate it alongside an actual bottle (or two).

“Wine books are always welcome for anyone interested in wine,” says Villafrañe. She says Rajat Parr’s The Sommelier’s Atlas of Taste is a great book for those who “already have wine knowledge but would like to go deeper into classic regions and highly regarded producers from those regions and to dive more into tasting theory.”

“This book was gifted to me by a dear friend at the start of my wine journey,” says Harrison-Brown. “It’s one that I reference when drinking a glass of wine or when I want to escape reality.” Not only does it teach you about wine, but it covers food, culture, and the author’s personal stories and accounts, which help bring a wine region to life.

Remember that scene from What Happens in Vegas where Cameron Diaz takes a knife to a champagne bottle and the bar goes wild? Well, that’s called sabering and you can bring that experience home with a sabre knife. “Sabering Champagne is a party trick that is sure to impress,” Harrison-Brown says and she particularly likes these for a gift because they can be engraved for an extra special touch. It also comes with a beautiful wood box and stand for safekeeping or display.

Another unexpected gift idea for the wine lover in your life came from Schwartz, who likes to give a pack of candles along with a nice bottle of wine. “I love that when they finish the bottle, it can become a candleholder for the tapers, and they can always think back to the memories they made while drinking it,” she says. “I personally have a pretty rad set of empty Frank Cornelissen Magma bottles (which are hand-calligraphed) that are now dotted in multiple colors of old candle wax. Whenever they’re lit, it transports me to Europe.”

If the person you’re gifting loves to eat out just as much as they love to drink wine, consider the Eater Wine Club from our colleagues at Eater. The team asks their favorite restaurants to curate the selections each month — basically the mail-order version of a trusted restaurant sommelier handing you the wine list on a night out. The bottles generally come from smaller producers, and the subscription also includes newsletters that provide more information about the wines you receive and invite you to virtual wine parties with experts.