7 tips for an exceptional gift for a wine lover

Birthdays, name days, Christmas or Valentine's Day. They are associated with a pleasant time spent with a loved one or loved ones, but also with stress. They often come with a dilemma of what to give. It's a little easier if the recipient has a hobby. Is he an avid wine lover? Get inspired when choosing with our tips for a gift for a winemaker.

A bottle of wine

It may seem that there is no better gift for a winemaker than a bottle of delicious grape drink. Since it's widely available, you won't be looking for it forever. You can also get wine in different price ranges. It is thus ideal for all budgets.

However, there is a catch. Gift wines are not suitable for everyone. You won't get a bottle for a person who likes wine and really knows it at the last minute in a supermarket. Most serious winemakers have very picky and specific tastes. They may consider one vintage or variety of a particular brand to be a masterpiece, the next to be garbage.

If you don't know anything about wine, you can easily step aside to choose a suitable gift for a winemaker. Choose wine as a gift if you know the recipient's preferences. Have you never seen him drink white in your life? Don't buy him thinking that he will definitely like it when he tries it.

Wine subscribtion

Wine subscription is a non-traditional service that appeared on the market relatively recently. How does it works? You choose how many wines, in what color, frequency, or price range you want to receive and pay. The service provider will send them directly to the address you provided. The wines come beautifully packaged and with information about their origin.

With a wine subscription, you usually gift premium wines from around the world, selected by an experienced sommelier. The selection is always unique. Each box contains new wines and with them unfamiliar tastes.

However, a wine subscription is again not one of the most suitable gifts for winemakers who have too specific tastes. Most of the services do not allow much flexibility in the selection yet. You can often choose only the color of the wine. It is not yet possible to specify whether you want dry, sparkling or sweet.

Snacks for Wine

Lovers of quality wine very often also appreciate delicious food that goes well with their favorite drink. Great gifts for winemakers therefore also include various wine snacks. In this context, many will think of cheese, cured meats, caviar, oysters, which go well with certain types of white wines, or for gourmets, the legendary truffles. Chocolate usually goes hand in hand with wine.

However, a problem similar to that of gift wine arises here. For example, one winemaker may love truffles, while another does not even want to smell them. Or he has an intolerance and cannot eat cheese or chocolate. If you don't want to burn yourself when choosing a snack for wine, check what the recipient likes and whether it goes well with the wine he likes.

If you know that there is a restaurant in your city or neighborhood where his beloved food is prepared excellently and his favorite wine is served to him, invite him to dinner. The time spent together is an ideal gift not only for the winemaker.

Wine sets and accessories

This category includes everything that you use in some way when storing or serving wine. It can be a designer wine rack or various accessories to open it. Classic sets are given in the most varied form, with engraving or elegant packaging - a sommelier's corkscrew and a bottle stopper.

Various smart gadgets are becoming more and more popular. For example, there is a system on the market that will allow you to pour a glass of wine without removing the cork.

Although classic and smart wine accessories are popular gifts for winemakers, they are not very practical. Wine lovers already have and use their own sets. Every other corkscrew or stand, even if gilded, is often a dust collector.

A step aside, especially if you are gifting a serious winemaker, tends to be kitsch. You will come across it, for example, in the form of infantile corkscrews or various bags from which you can drink wine through a tube.

Wine tasting

With the tasting, you give the time spent together and an interesting experience as a gift. Every wine lover will appreciate the opportunity to taste it directly in the winery with the winemaker who makes it with love. And he'll be happy to show you how he does it.

The tasting is also an opportunity for an experienced winemaker to try something unknown. It brings a chance to get to know new tastes and smells. Learn what wine goes well with different foods. It is also an opportunity to visit vineyards and wineries in unique spaces, where you might not get to otherwise.

If you choose a tasting as a gift for a winemaker, you have several options. You can choose a specific location and time, and reserve seats.

An even better option is a voucher. At Gogo.wine, you can choose from several types of vouchers. One option is to donate a specific tasting. The recipient can use the gift on any available date up to 12 months from the date of purchase of the voucher.

The second option is to buy a gift voucher of a certain value. At ZaVínom, they are available in amounts of 30, 50 and 100 euros. They can also prepare a voucher for you in a different value - tailored. The validity of these gift vouchers is 12 months.

A voucher, even for wine tasting, for example, is the safest gift for a winemaker. You don't risk buying something that doesn't fit the recipient.

Wine stay

A stay at a winery, like a tasting, is primarily about exceptional experiences. About relaxing in beautiful vineyards, which you can walk through at sunrise or sunset, delicious food and excellent wine and getting to know it.

You can choose them all over Slovakia and the whole world, where you will find many regions with a famous wine culture. For all of them, it is enough to mention Italian Tuscany, French Burgundy or Bordeaux or Napa Valley in the USA.

Their visit is the dream of many a wine lover. You will make him very happy with a wine stay, but expect to spend more money. You will pay thousands of euros, especially if you decide to visit regions on the other side of the world.

However, if you are satisfied with the beauty of Slovakia, which also has several pleasant wine regions, you can cut down on expenses quite a bit.

Sommelier course

A complete novice as well as an experienced "consumer" will certainly enjoy the opportunity to gain additional knowledge that will help him better navigate the world of wine. There is a wide range of courses on the market today. Some are tailor-made for people who perceive wine as a hobby, thanks to others, the recipient can even start a new career. A professional sommelier course, where it is possible to obtain a sommelier certificate, is offered, for example, by the Wine School.

As a gift for a winemaker, you can choose and pay for a specific course. Or bet on a voucher offered by some wine education institutions.

The disadvantage of donating a sommelier course is usually the cost. Depending on the acquired expertise, their price ranges from several tens to several hundred euros.