How to Give Wine as a Gift
Giving just the right wine gift can be really, really hard.
Sure, it’s not “create world peace” hard, but it’s difficult nonetheless. What you give and how you give it really matters. What’s more, choosing the right gift has the potential to make or break a friendship or romantic relationship.
No pressure, right? I’m sweating just writing about how to give wine as a gift.
But just when you thought the pressure-cooked couldn’t get any hotter, here comes the cool breeze to make it all better, a universally loved gift that you can personalize just for the person to whom you’re giving it. It’s been around for centuries but it’s still one of the hottest gifts around.
The answer: a bottle of wine.
It may have been around since 4000 BC, but you’ll need to dress it up for the 21st century to make sure it’s epic. Here are the three steps you should follow so that your gift of wine is becomes just the right gift for any occasion.
Step 1: Choose the Wine
It may seem like a no-brainer that the first step in giving wine as a gift is choosing wine, but don’t fly through this one. Stop and take your time, because you want to make sure that you’re choosing the right bottle for the right person.
Take each of the following things into consideration to make sure that you’re choosing the right bottle of wine for each person in your life.
- Think about the tastes of the person who will be receiving it. If you’ve been with your friend to a huge number of parties and only ever seen her with a glass of white in her hand, stick with what you know she’ll like. Now’s not the time to branch out to a red, a rosé, or a sparkling if you want to be sure she will love her gift. However…
- Don’t be afraid to try something unusual. Once you’ve decided on a color, explore all of your options in that color. Choose a bottle with a unique flavor profile or one that is complementary to the tones of the season in which you’re giving the gift.
- Spend wisely. While anyone who enjoys vino knows that a bottle of great tasting wine doesn’t have to break the bank, now’s not the time to skimp and make your decision on which bottle to gift based on price alone.
- Take a few minutes to educate yourself. Just like it’s hard to choose the right piece of clothing if you don’t understand materials, it’s hard to choose a bottle of wine if you don’t know how to interpret the description. What’s a complex wine? What does it mean if a wine is flamboyant or oaky or toasty? What’s a tannin and what does its presence do to the taste of the wine? You don’t have to become a sommelier to make a good choice, but you should have a basic understanding of some often-used words in a basic wine vocabulary so that you are making the right choice.
- If you’re having trouble choosing, consider the bottle itself. Presentation is a huge part of giving a gift. If you can’t decide between two bottles of wine and think your friend will love both, choose the bottle whose design seems to match more of your friend’s personality.
Step 2: Make it personal
We all know that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but you can judge wine by its bottle. So how do you make yours memorable and attractive? Personalize it.
This step is where you can set your gift apart from all the others and make it truly memorable. Many people might choose to gift wine, but most won’t think to take it to the next level and personalize it for the recipient. Do this, and your gift will stand out over all the others.
Once you’ve selected the perfect bottle, now choose whether you want to engrave your bottle or create a unique label for it.
- If you want to engrave the bottle, you can choose from a variety of different fonts, so select one that fits the tone of the gift. You can choose from a stock saying, choose a popular quotation, or even write your own message to go on the front of the bottle.
- If you want to create a unique label, you can also choose between completely personalizing it or starting with one that’s already been designed for you and for which you only need to insert the name of the person receiving the gift. A great idea to make it really personal is to include pictures taken of you and the person who will be receiving the wine. It makes for a great memento.
Whichever way you choose, engraving or label, it’s important to take your time on this step. Make informed choices that really show the person you’re giving the wine to that you know her, you love her, and you wanted to give her a really special gift.
Step 3: Package makes perfect
Remember when you were a kid and the package that the present came in was just as important as the gift itself? Maybe you remember taking the boxes and building a fort or using one as a crib for your doll or making it a treasure chest for all of your super cool stuff that was really important to you.
Who says fun packaging has to end when you grow up? Good news: it doesn’t!
You’ve taken the time to select the right bottle of wine and the right way to personalize the bottle. Don’t skip quickly over the last step in giving wine as a gift. Take your time with step three as well and make sure you select the right packaging for your perfectly chosen bottle.
The two most popular ways to give a bottle of wine are in a box or in a bag.
- Wooden Box – This is a great way to add a final touch of personalization to your gift. Choose the right box to fit your bottle of wine. Then decide how you would like to engrave the box. Do you want to use a funny saying? Write a wish like “Have a happy birthday”? Or maybe you simply want to have “I love you” engraved in the box to remind the recipient of how you feel. You can’t go wrong.
- Gift Bag – If you feel like simple elegance is the way to go, a gift bag would be the right choice for your wine. Choose the right textile that sets the tone for your gift – a light organza, a simple linen, or a rich velvet. Your choice will be the perfect wrapping for your perfect gift.
Successful gift giving can be a tricky thing. But giving wine – and making it personal by using these three steps – is one of the closest things to a surefire hit gift that you can get.