18 Top-Rated Gifts For Wine Enthusiasts

The United States is home to many wine enthusiasts. What, where, and how these individuals drink varies enormously, but America's wine enthusiasts also have at least one thing in common: They all have a love for wine. Occasionally, these enthusiasts may also be difficult to buy gifts for.

When shopping for wine enthusiasts, most people buy bottles of wine. This is a mistake, as most have developed specific preferences that the shopper may not be aware of. When someone has an appreciation for wine, not any old bottle will do. Fail to find the right bottle that meets these high standards, and you're giving a gift that will likely be ignored.

To help you avoid this ignominious end, we've put together a list of 18 gifts every wine enthusiast will love. While including a few bottles of wine, this list is dominated by alternative gifts, ranging from informative books on the subject to handy equipment, ensuring there is something for every wine enthusiast, no matter their preferences. Each gift was selected thanks to the impressive ratings and reviews it received online. These exceptional ratings indicate that these gifts will be treasured by the wine enthusiast in your life for years to come.

Coravin Timeless Three+ is a wine preservation system that allows wine to be poured from a bottle without removing the cork. Argon gas is pumped into the bottle ensuring any wine left in it does not oxidize. Ultimately, this means wine can be sampled and enjoyed over a prolonged period without the rest of the bottle spoiling as often occurs when the cork is removed.

For wine enthusiasts, the Coravin Timeless Three+ offers a world of possibilities. They can drink wine without committing to finishing the bottle or use multiple wines to pair different dishes throughout a meal without wine being wasted. Numerous positive reviews confirm that wine left in the bottle will taste the same months after the first glass was poured, making this a gadget every wine enthusiast will prize. Coravin Timeless Three+ retails at $249.00.

"The New French Wine" is a two-volume book set that maps contemporary French wine culture and examines the changes that have transformed it in recent years. Written by Jon Bonné, a two-time James Beard Award winner, "The New French Wine" is a seminal work every wine enthusiast should own, as highlighted by one reviewer on Amazon: "Everything I've read so far is brilliant. I genuinely think this will be the bench mark reference text on French wine for the next decade."

The first volume offers an overview of France's wine regions, highlighting the various characteristics that make up each area's terroir. The second book is a guide to notable producers in each of these regions. As a result, "The New French Wine" is both an educative tool and a practical guide. Its recommended retail price is $135.00, although it often sells at lower prices.

All wine enthusiasts should have a tasting journal. It allows them to record, and later recall, a wine's characteristics that might otherwise have been forgotten. This aids them in developing both knowledge and palate. While blank journals are often used, Wine Folly's Wine Journal is specially designed to aid in the recording of wines and is a much superior tool as a result.

The tasting journal includes prompts for a wine's appearance and flavor, as well as specific spaces for entering the details of a wine, including grape variety and origin. This ensures that enthusiasts record the experience and information in an accessible manner, allowing for quick and efficient reference. Unsurprisingly, numerous customer reviews left on the Wine Folly website celebrated how easy it was to keep track of wines they'd tried. The journal costs $24.99.

When you drink wine, spills are going to happen no matter how careful you are. As red wine stains are particularly stubborn, it is all the more important that wine enthusiasts own an effective stain remover. With over 5,600 five-star reviews on Amazon alone, we can confidently say that Wine Away's Red Wine Stain Remover is exactly that.

The stain remover works on both fresh and dry stains with miraculous results. Previous customers have successfully removed red wine stains from various materials including cotton clothing, jute and wool rugs, and linen tablecloths. What's more, the product is non-toxic and only made from fruit and vegetable extracts. A pack of two 12-ounce bottles retails for $22.00 on the Wine Away website, a small price to remove potentially rug-ruining stains.

It's a well-established fact that the shape and quality of a glass directly influences the perception of a wine's aroma and flavor. Specialist glasses can cost hundreds of dollars, but the Gabriel-Glas StandArt Universal Wine Glass is a reasonably-priced option that still allows the wine to demonstrate its full potential. This was highlighted by one reviewer on Wine Folly: "These glasses are a great help when evaluating a wine. They capture aromas. They expose the wine to the air. These are our preferred wine tasting glasses. Have not found anything better."

Aside from expressing the wine's aroma, the glasses are robust and can stand up to regular usage. What's more, a Gabriel-Glas StandArt Universal Wine Glass can be used with every type of wine, negating the need for an expansive — and expensive — array of glassware. A set of two glasses costs $67.99.

Buying wine for an enthusiast is a practice fraught with risk. These people generally know what they like and may be disappointed by anything that falls outside of their preferences. That being said, no gift will make an enthusiast happier than exceptional wine and that's exactly what the Mondavi Triple Wine Sonoma Gift Basket from winebasket.com offers.

Three wines are included in the gift basket: a merlot, a cabernet, and a chardonnay. All are produced at the world-famous Robert Mondavi winery in Napa Valley. Alongside the wine are a range of indulgent snacks including wine raisins coated in sea salt caramel as well as toffee peanuts. This heady mix of food and wine is an epicurean delight that only costs $127.99, a steal considering the quality and quantity of both wine and food.

The Napa Valley Wine Train is a wine-centric experience that involves guests riding on a historic train. The train stops at several celebrated Napa Valley wineries and boasts excellent onboard dining options, including world-class wine pairings. These form a large part of the experience and are sure to impress any wine enthusiast, as demonstrated by one of the many five-star reviews left on TripAdvisor, including one that said: "The overall experience was fantastic. The staff were friendly and attentive to our needs. The wine selections we tasted were excellent and the food was great."

The Napa Valley Wine Train offers various experiences ranging from a six-hour day trip to a three-hour tea experience. By purchasing a gift card, you allow the recipient to choose which experience suits them and their budget best. Gift cards range in price from $225 to $900.

If the wine enthusiast in your life is known for being critical of vintners, the Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Kit from Craft a Brew could be the gift for them. This kit allows the average person to experience the winemaking process themselves and features everything they need to craft a batch of cabernet sauvignon including instructions, equipment, and raw materials.

A simple process means most customers have produced impressive wines in the past, as this review posted to the Craft a Brew website reveals: "We had so much fun making the cab! [...] It was so cool to watch the magic happen. We tried a bottle after a few days and it came out surprisingly delicious!" The kit costs $64.99 which is great value seeing as it produces a gallon of wine.

Few mail-order wine companies are as highly regarded as SommSelect, a company that sells both single bottles and subscription services. It is the latter that has gained the greatest acclaim. This is due to SommSelect's tendency to select exceptional bottles for its members month after month. Each bottle is carefully shipped to the customer, resulting in a completely stress-free drinking experience.

Such a service is pricey and prolonged memberships are beyond a lot of budgets. However, the 3 Month Club Membership makes a handsome gift, allowing wine enthusiasts to sample this side of the industry. The Explore 4 option costs $405.00 and sees four different wines delivered each month. Reviews of the company are overwhelmingly positive with many praising the selection of wines and also SommSelect's impeccable customer service.

Many wines, Champagne included, benefit from chilling on ice. The most graceful means of icing bottles is with a well-designed Champagne bucket. Style and functionality both matter in such a piece and Crate & Barrel's Charleston Wine/Champagne Bucket demonstrates both. This Champagne bucket is made from a solid piece of metal; it doesn't leak and the simple design allows space for at least three bottles at a time. The solid nature of the bucket also makes it eye-catching without being showy.

Priced at $59.95, the Charleston Wine/Champagne Bucket is an affordable yet luxurious option, making it a favorite of Crate & Barrel customers. The product's numerous positive reviews celebrate the bucket's marriage of form and functionality, suggesting that this piece of kit would be a welcome addition to any wine enthusiast's equipment collection.

Infusing chocolate with wine is not easy to do well; the strong flavors of the two main ingredients often clash, resulting in an unpleasant finished product. When done right, however, wine-infused chocolate is uniquely indulgent and 2 Chicks With Chocolate gets this tricky combination perfect in its Wine Infused Chocolate Collection.

This collection is made up of four sets of bonbons each with a different flavor combination. This includes bonbons that are made from a mixture of milk chocolate ganache and tempranillo as well as spicy merlot, milk chocolate, and spices bonbons. All flavors are perfectly balanced as attested to by a plethora of positive reviews. Retailing at $44.95, the Wine Infused Chocolate Collection is an affordable gift all wine enthusiasts will love.

Every wine enthusiast needs a corkscrew they can trust, and Pulltap's Double-Hinged Waiter's Corkscrew is known for being extremely reliable. This corkscrew is used by professionals across the hospitality industry and is famously robust, often clocking up over a decade's worth of use without failing.

The corkscrew can be bought for as little as $5, although it normally retails at more than $10. This is ten times less than other high-performing corkscrews and we'd be inclined to say that the Pulltap outperforms them all. Those who have bought Pulltap's Double-Hinged Waiter's Corkscrew agree; the product has racked up more than 600 five-star ratings on Amazon alone as well as rave reviews from leading figures in the wine industry.

Wine-infused salts offer a quick, easy, and unique way of adding wine flavors to dishes both sweet and savory. This pack, made by Vintner's Kitchen and sold via Uncommon Goods, contains three different finishing salts: Chardonnay Lemon & Thyme, Rosé Rosemary, and Pinot Noir & Fennel. All three are made with Pacific sea salt and have a variety of uses.

The range of dishes covered by these three finishing salts is enormous as a review left on Uncommon Goods highlights: "These salts can be used on just about anything.. between the 3 flavors, you're pretty much covered with any dish! Unique product that is sure to be loved by anyone who loves to cook and loves their wine!" Many other customers highly rate the salts thanks to their powerful yet nuanced flavors which complement foods ranging from pizza to chocolate.

Some wines, especially bottle-aged reds, require decanting to fully express themselves. This is because decanting wine aerates it, causing the aroma to open up as well as preventing sediment from entering the glass. Decanters are specifically designed to help with these two processes by having a wide flat bowl that exposes as much wine to the air as possible while also allowing sediment to settle.

Riedel's Ultra Decanter is an exceptional example of this style, made from fine crystal and boasting an elegant, functional design. Many customers immediately noticed a difference in how their wine tasted after purchasing and using the Riedel Ultra Decanter thanks to the wine's increased aeration. At $250, it is by no means cheap, however, the transformative effects it has on wine make it a brilliant gift for any wine enthusiast. 

"Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion" is an encyclopedic book about the world's wines. The book focuses on wineries, vineyards, and wines from around the world, revealing their characteristics and nuances. Now in its sixth edition, "Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion" remains as relevant as ever thanks to extensive updates performed by Stephen Brook. As a result, it is a reference book every wine enthusiast should own.

Those starting on their wine journey have the most to gain from the book as one reviewer highlighted on Amazon: "Reading it has allowed me to be an amateur sommelier, as if I have a personal assistant to guide and assist with food parings, greatly increasing my knowledge of the worlds wines." Other reviewers concur, with some even suggesting that "Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion" is the only book a budding wine enthusiast needs. The book can be bought for under $10.

Wine-infused coffee hit the mainstream in 2017 when Molinari Private Reserve was released. These days, you can purchase Merlot Infused Coffee, a product made by John Jenkins and sold by Uncommon Goods. This coffee is made from Arabica beans that have been aged in oak barrels that previously stored merlot. The result is a fruity, tart coffee.

This balanced flavor profile makes the merlot-infused coffee a perfect gift for those who like both beverages. One review on Uncommon Goods highlighted how the two flavors complimented one another: "The merlot is definitely there and can be tasted without overwhelming the coffee flavor, and the coffee itself is smooth and enjoyable to drink." Retailing at around $30, this coffee is expensive, but it's a product wine enthusiasts will be interested in.

Mulled wine is a festive favorite that's often overlooked. Poor quality, pre-mixed products, and overly sweet syrups dominate the market, making it difficult to find high-quality mulled wine. The Mulled Wine Cocktail Kit from Cooking Gift Set Co. allows individuals to take matters into their own hands, providing them with the ingredients, equipment, and instructions to make excellent mulled wine.

Retailing at $59.99, the Mulled Wine Cocktail Kit contains enough ingredients to make approximately eight bottles of mulled wine, although the wine itself is not included. Many customers gifted the kit during the festive season and reported that the finished wines were great tasting and fun to make.

Cheese and wine is an iconic pairing that nearly all wine enthusiasts appreciate. As such, gifting these individuals the Gourmet Cheese Assortment from Harry & David just makes sense. In this $49.99 hamper, customers receive four different cheeses including St. Pete's Select Blue Cheese which is aged in Minnesotan caves for over 100 days. The other cheeses are a semi-hard cheese, an Irish-style cheese, and a Parmesan-inspired cheese. This variety means wine enthusiasts have the potential to pair the cheeses with an extensive range of wines.

At the time of writing, the Gourmet Cheese Assortment has 126 five-star reviews. These reviews don't only laud the quality of the cheese, but also Harry & David's expertise in handling and delivering the product. Many state the cheese was well-packaged and chilled upon arrival, ensuring these decadent products maintained their impeccable quality intact.

Gifts were only included in this article if they had received multiple five-star ratings online. In instances where companies and products do not offer reviews on their website, positive reviews recorded on other websites, like Amazon, were used instead.