5 useful tips on how to give wine as a gift
1 - Don't be Cheap
There is nothing worse than gifting 2.5 € bottles of sparkling wine that you find at the supermarket. It is not just the question of the price itself, but with wine you have the opportunity to make a truly unique gift, why waste it?
In fact, with a just few euros more you can buy a bottle produced in an artisanal way by a small producer, and therefore unobtainable and exclusive: take advantage of the opportunity to tell the person receiving the gift “you are really special!”
2 - Be Informed
Part of the charm of wine lies in its artisanal character and its history.
To make the most of the “wow” factor of this gift, find out a little about what you are buying. The main things to know are:
Where was it produced?
By whom was it produced and what is the history of the winery?
How was it produced? (how many years in a barrel)
3 - If Your Friend Is An Expert
If you have to give a gift to an expert or a wine lover, you are venturing into a potential minefield and in my opinion, there are two ways to get out of it unscathed.
The first is to play it safe: find out what they like to drink if you don’t already know and switch it up a little. If he/she likes Burgundy XXX, offer him/her a Burgundy YYY, with the excuse of trying something different.
· The second way is to look for an obscure and little-known wine, catching him/her unprepared in a field they know well.
4 - If You Are An Expert
Do not underestimate the person in question by giving them a cheap wine “because he/she doesn’t understand anything about it”. If they are really inexperienced, give them a wine that is not too complex, so that they can enter this world easily and painlessly.
However, do not make the mistake of starting from the base, with bland and uninteresting wines, risking to distance him/her even further from wine.
Sometimes, in fact, those who have little appreciation for wine justify themselves by saying that “they all seem the same”: show them the unlimited potential of this universe with a distinctive, spicy, but well-drinkable wine – they will be grateful to you for teaching them something new.
5 - the Packaging
One of the inevitable obstacles that one has to overcome when deciding to gift wine is the packaging: On one hand, as the bottle, with its peculiar shape, does not seem to leave too much room for imagination, and partly because based on the wine that you choose the “rules” of packaging vary.
