The Best Gifts For The Wine Lover In Your Life (Besides A New Bottle)

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If getting gifts for the person who has it all stymies you, then shopping for the wine lover in your life is doubly hard. There's no shortage of products out there, and figuring out what is worth your hard-earned cash can seem daunting. Luckily, we turned to experts and online reviews to compile some ideas for your gift shopping.

When it comes to finding the perfect present for the wine lover in your life, a new bottle isn't always the best option. The first question you'll need to answer is whether they are a wine expert or someone taking their first steps in discovering scents, flavors, and food pairings. The gifts you choose will vary based on that factor. From gadgets that preserve an opened bottle to accessories that keep wine at the ideal temperature, these ideas go beyond the usual glassware and offer real value for anyone who appreciates a good pour.

As a recipe developer and food blogger who often works with wine, I know how much a glass or bottle can enhance a meal and elevate everyday moments. So without letting our grapes spoil, here are the 11 best gifts for the wine lover in your life. Whether they're a casual sipper or a serious collector, these picks will help them enjoy every pour a little more.

Lynsey Kmetz, a former keto food blogger who has crossed over to Apogee affiliates, has one tip when shopping for wine lovers: get them a good bottle opener. Otherwise, you may never know what devices they resort to open that precious wine bottle they got for a great price.

"Mine broke, and we had to get creative after a particularly stressful day," says Kmetz. She ended up resorting to using a pair of rusted pliers, which opened the bottle, but may have caused tetanus in the process. "I'm renovating a 1908 house, and the joke was these pliers were from around the same time."

For a great bottle opener, go for the tried and true Pulltaps Waiter's corkscrew, which is surprisingly inexpensive for being such a well-received industry favorite. If you're looking for a gift to impress, the Peugeot rechargeable electric corkscrew looks and works impressively well, according to many reviewers. 

A good bottle stopper is one of the basic gadgets every wine lover should own. Unsurprisingly, not all of them are created equal, so we wanted to take the guesswork out of trying them all.

"I love wine gadgets. My favorites are the ones that allow you to seal and store wine after opening it to enjoy on another day," says Michelle Price, the food and travel blogger behind Honest and Truly. "I hate the pressure to have to finish a bottle rather than savoring it." Price recommends an electric vacuum wine sealer that is perfect for red and white bottles. "It's so easy to use and really makes a difference," she says. If you're looking to splurge, the Peugeot Preserve Line Manual Vacuum Pump is a great option for both flat and sparkling wines. 

If you're looking for a simpler option, then foregoing the electric and opting for a vacuum is perfectly fine. In our house, I use the Vacu Vin Wine Saver Pump to store the carefully-selected wine that's leftover from testing and developing a recipe. That way, I can serve good wine alongside the same dish for dinner. Because in the immortal words of Julia Child, "If you do not have a good wine to use, it is far better to omit it, for a poor one can spoil a simple dish and utterly debase a noble one".

While still wine requires one stopper system, sparkling wines, with their continuous pressure build-up, need another system altogether. With sparkling wines, it's not just the flavor of the wine you worry about ruining, but the carbonation, as well. A specialized wine stopper may put a stop to those worries, at least for a time.

Michelle Price has gone through this issue and has taken to gifting her wine-appreciating friends sparkling wine stoppers. And they don't have to be fancy, either. "I found that a relatively cheap ... stainless steel stopper works just as well as the more expensive versions, and you can keep your sparkling wine drinkable for days with it," says Price.

According to online reviews, one of the best affordable sparkling wine stoppers is the Cuisinart champagne stopper. If you're wanting for something more deluxe-looking, the Le Creuset crown sealer, with its timeless cast-iron design, might be just what you're looking for. 

If the person you're shopping for is truly a wine connoisseur, a simple bottle stopper just won't do. For the most sophisticated wine drinkers in your life, it's time to break out a wine-preservation system. Without a doubt, talking to all wine experts and perusing reviews will showcase that the industry favorite is the brand Coravin.

For help selecting among the many options, we turned to Jessie-Sierra Ross, the food blogger behind Straight to the Hips, Baby, and the author of the Seasons Around the Table cookbook on entertaining. Ross' husband is an avid wine lover, and she's gone through many wine-related gifts over the years. The Coravin system has stood out among them.

"I won't lie to you, this is a pricey gift, and it sees most of its use in restaurants. It works by sticking a thin needle through the cork, extracting a measure of wine, and replacing the interior space with the inert gas, argon," explained Sierra Ross. "No air at all will get in to spoil the wine, leaving the remaining liquid in perfect condition, for years if need be." The Coravin is available in several iterations, and Sierra Ross recommends the Coravin Timeless Three Plus Wine Preservation System.

Once you have your bottle open, any wine lover knows that you will want to let it breathe. And here, as always, there is an easy way — and a hard way. You could buy someone a pricey crystal decanter they'll never use, or you could help them McGyver their own wine aeration and spinning system, looking cool and experienced in the process. 

"Sure, you can pour it into a decanter and wait an hour, but what if I told you that five minutes on this machine is the equivalent of a whole hour of waiting around to drink your wine?! It's absolutely true, and absolutely amazing," gushes Jessie-Sierra Ross. Her magical solution is the laboratory-grade Magnetic Mixer with stir bar.

"This is the oxygenating power of a magnetic stirrer. All you need to do is drop the little magnetic bar into any flat-bottomed decanter, turn the knob on the base, and an aerating vortex of spinning happy wine will speed you on your way to enjoying that first sip. At $20, I have literally gifted this to a dozen friends!" Ross recommends.

If you are new to the world of wine or shopping for wine lovers, then the one thing you should know is that many wines need to be aerated. If you've ever heard someone say a wine needs to breathe, they don't mean you should administer mouth-to-mouth. Instead, the most common way to aerate wine is to invest in a wine aerator.

The problem is, most wine aerators are big, clunky, and expensive. Enter the portable, handheld wine aerator and decanter. "My favorite wine gift is a handheld aerator or decanter," says Sage Scott, the food blogger and wine lover behind Sage Alpha Gal. "You can find them in all price ranges, from plastic to glass, with or without a little stand. It's the perfect way to decant one glass at a time on those nights that you may not finish a full bottle."

If shopping for a red wine lover, this Vinturi essential decanter is the perfect solution. It also comes in a white wine model, which changes the size of the cup.

One of the biggest challenges of drinking wine in the summer is keeping it at the right temperature. An insulated wine glass with a proper, leak-proof lid is the perfect solution for your friend who enjoys wine soirees at the park.

"In the summer, I'm all about a chilled Pinot Grigio or a Rosé," says Molly Madigan Pisula, the food blogger behind the French-inspired food blog Vanilla Bean Cuisine. "One of my favorite gifts to give to other wine lovers is an insulated stemless wine glass tumbler with a lid. Keeps your wine cold and secure — perfect for sipping poolside or at the beach!"

According to online reviews, the best lidded and leak-proof wine tumbler out there is made by YETI. The best part is, it's also dishwasher safe and comes in a variety of colors, so you can match the hue to the owner's personality.

One great wine gift that keeps on giving is a wine club subscription. That way, the recipient can keep on discovering new sips every month, and also enjoy the benefits of the community of other wine lovers that usually comes with it.

"Growing up Italian, wine was always on the table," says Bella Bucchiotti, the food blogger behind the food, travel, and lifestyle blog xoxoBella. "It was part of dinners, celebrations, and everyday moments. It's more than a drink. It's a ritual!" In her experience, a wine club membership was one way her family kept finding new wines for the table. "A wine club subscription makes an amazing gift that my family has enjoyed," she says. "It's the kind of surprise that keeps on giving, with new bottles to explore each month and a chance to discover small producers you might never find otherwise."

One of the best wine subscription services you can get in the U.S. is Helen's Wines Club. If you're looking for a gift for someone just discovering the world of fine wines, and who may just want fun options for dinners, then Winc wine club is another great experience.

Want to help the wine lovers in your circle take their wine on the road? Then you need a good wine tote with a proper cooler compartment.

My parents became passionate about wine a few years ago, and they swear by a proper wine cooler to transport their wines across the hot, arid region they live in. Even if the wine lover you're shopping for doesn't live in a particularly hot region, they are likely making some mistakes when it comes to their wine storage. According to online customer reviews and expert recommendations, the best portable two-bottle wine cooler comes from All Camp, and it's quite affordable. If you want to go for something fancier, then travel editors recommend the Hydroflask 26-liter tote for a stylish but sporty-looking option that can carry more than just wine.

And if you're ready to shell out the big bucks, then maybe getting one of the best wine fridges on the market is for you. For the rest of us, a good wine tote is probably enough.

For the ultimate luxury wine travel, the best gift is a good-quality wine suitcase. And even here, we have budget and more luxe options.

The idea of getting a suitcase just for wine may sound crazy to you, but hear us out. The dedicated wine connoisseurs on your gift list are likely already planning entire trips around wine expos, wine region tours, and even wine bottling seasons. And as you may know, just throwing a $200 bottle of wine in your suitcase is probably not the best course of action. Enter the padded wine suitcase.

According to online consumer recommendations, the real competition in wine luggage is between the more affordable brand, The Wine Check, or the deluxe-looking Vin Garde Valise. Both options are popular among reviewers and consumers alike, but the Vin Garde Valise comes with a heftier price tag, likely due to its association with first-class travel. But we think your wine can't go wrong with either one.

As a food blogger, I posed this question to my fellow recipe developers and food writers, gathering valuable quotes and recommendations from fellow bloggers with experience in wine and related gifts. Additionally, my parents, who are avid wine collectors, contributed their insights based on years of personal experience.

To ensure a well-rounded list, we supplemented these firsthand suggestions with research from numerous gift guides and customer reviews across multiple platforms. Each gift idea was carefully selected to cover different needs and preferences within the wine community. We also took care to include some links for purchase as suggestions.