Make Your Own Wine and Cheese Gift Basket

Gift Ideas for the Wine Lovers in Your Life

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A bottle of wine makes a great gift for a wine connoisseur, but for a truly special person, you might want to go a little further than picking up a simple bottle of cabernet at your local grocery store. If you're really looking to earn some appreciation points, go the extra mile and find some great wine-themed gifts for those who look forward to a glass — or bottle — of wine.

When it comes to vino, gift ideas are pretty plentiful. The options range from nice bottle openers to monthly wine subscriptions. Need some inspiration? Start with some of these creative gift ideas for the wine lovers in your life.

A Wine Subscription

A wine subscription, such as the one from Winc, for your favorite wine lover is a gift that keeps on giving. Most wine clubs send a bottle or more per month with a subscription. One of the key reasons this is such a great gift is it gives the recipient the opportunity to try many new varieties of wine, a process they are sure to love.

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Subscriptions usually start somewhere between $30 and $50 a month and can be customized to cater to specific wine preferences. You enter the information right on the websites when you order. This is a gift that requires a substantial ongoing financial commitment, but you can't go wrong with this option for a wine lover.

A Pairing Cookbook

Wine Food: New Adventures in Drinking and Cooking by Andrea Slonecker and Dana Frank is one of the more popular and well-reviewed wine pairing cookbooks on the market, but it's certainly not the only book available. Sommeliers and other wine experts have written many books on the same subject. The title you choose doesn't matter, but the reviews do. Stick to highly rated books to ensure you can trust their suggestions.

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Enhancing the experience of drinking wine by pairing it with the right food is a dream come true for most wine lovers. That's why giving them a cookbook specially designed for pairing specific wines with specific foods is a unique and perfect gift idea for true wine lovers.

A Wine Journal

If you ever drank a wine you loved and then later couldn't remember the name of it, then you understand the frustration of that missed opportunity. However, those days of wine forgetfulness can be long over if your wine love keeps a wine journal. Sure, anyone could record their favorite wines in any old notebook, but random notebooks tend to eventually get lost or are thrown away.

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A beautiful, dedicated wine journal provides the perfect space for recording important info, and wine drinkers will be motivated to fill it up with the wines they love. Many wine journals even provide space to include tasting notes. That way, they can easily remember the details of specific wines when they're in the mood for something specific.

A Wine Thermometer

A wine thermometer is a must-have gadget for those who enjoy different types of wine. Every kind of wine, from chardonnay to rosé to cabernet, is best at a certain temperature. All wine connoisseurs know that, but it can be hard to tell when the wine inside a bottle is in the perfect temperature range for drinking.

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Most wine thermometers are digital these days and attach with a belt to the outside of the bottle. As wine has gotten more and more popular, so have wine accessories like the wine thermometer, so finding a good one should be a breeze.

Blue Wine

Blue wine, such as Pasion Blue, seems like nothing more than a novelty. In fact, many people assume it has been artificially dyed just for fun. However, wine that's naturally blue in color actually exists. Pasion Blue, in particular, is a chardonnay from Castilla y León, Spain.

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It tastes like you expect a chardonnay to taste, but it gets a unique blue coloring from a pigment in the grape skin called anthocyanin. Pasion Blue has a fresh and crisp flavor that goes well with semi-cured cheeses and fish. Gifting someone this lovely blue wine is sure to impress them.

An Elegant Wine Chiller

Every wine lover needs a portable wine chiller in their home. Otherwise, what will they do after they open their bottle of white wine — let it get warm? Another option is to store it in the fridge, of course, but that means a trip to the kitchen every time someone is ready for a re-pour, which isn't ideal.

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The most traditional wine chiller is a stainless steel bucket you can fill with ice to surround the wine bottles inside. There's also the iceless wine chiller, which is a bit more convenient and a little less messy, as some wine buckets aren't insulated well and could sweat. Either one makes an excellent gift for a person who loves wine.

A Chilling Stick

A wine chiller stick is based on a similar overall concept as the more traditional wine chiller, only the stick form is designed to insert in the wine bottle. In most cases, a stainless steel stick that has been thoroughly chilled retains its chilly temperature for quite a while, making it perfect for chilling freshly purchased warm bottles of wine as well as keeping opened bottles cool.

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As a gift for a white wine lover, a wine chiller stick is a great choice unless your wine lover never drinks chilled wines. They can say goodbye to the days of using a couple of ice cubes to cool a glass of wine down quickly, effectively watering it down and ruining the intended flavor.

A Pairing Kit for Wine and Chocolate

If you know anyone who loves both wine and chocolate, gifting them a wine and chocolate pairing kit will probably turn you into their new favorite person. Williams Sonoma makes one popular wine and chocolate kit, but other options are available. Good kits come with various chocolates and recommendations for how to pair them with just the right wines.

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If you do your research, you could even get them a couple of matching wines to complete the gift. The bonus is that perhaps they will even invite you to enjoy the gift with them, which means you could get to indulge in the divine wine-chocolate combination too!

Electric Wine Openers

Opening a new bottle isn't usually a wine lover's favorite part of enjoying a glass of wine. Using an electric corkscrew wine opener is the new and improved easiest way to open a bottle of wine. These gadgets make a very thoughtful gift idea for someone who drinks wine often. It's also ideal for someone who may have dexterity issues that make it difficult to operate a manual corkscrew.

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Plus, some aged bottles of wine can require a lot of delicate maneuvering to get the cork out without breaking it. With an electric corkscrew, not only is opening wine easy, but it's also quick.

Wine-Infused Coffee

Wine-infused coffee is made by aging coffee beans in oak wine barrels. Uncommon Goods' wine-infused coffee is a particularly great choice. While sitting in those barrels, the coffee beans absorb the flavors of the wine. If your favorite wine lover is also a coffee lover, a bag of wine-infused beans could be the perfect gift.

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Note that the coffee doesn't end up tasting totally like wine, of course, but it certainly contains hints of wine. For most people, this is ideal. If you add milk, the coffee ends up tasting even more like wine. Talk about a morning pick-me-up!

A Wine Glass Holder for the Shower

Some wine lovers like to drink in the bath or shower. Yes, we know it's not the best idea to have breakable glass around slippery watery, but it's a thing. At least, now there's a device to make this activity a little bit easier. It's a product made of silicone by a company called Sipski. The contraption suctions to the wall to hold the wine glass safely in place.

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This is a fun gift idea for the wine lovers out there who like to relax with a glass of wine in the bathtub. It could also be ideal for wine drinkers in a rush who multitask by taking their wine into the shower.

Wine Condoms — Seriously

Wine condoms are little rubber devices that serve as wine stoppers. After pouring a glass of wine, you want to make sure you protect it from contaminants and preserve the flavor and quality for later. To do this, simply roll a wine condom over the bottle's neck. These condoms are even reusable! Simply wash them after every use to keep them clean.

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What a fun gift idea for a wine-loving friend! While your recipient is sure to get a hearty laugh out of it at first, they will eventually realize that wine condoms are actually quite useful.

Spice Things Up with Wine-Infused Salts

Wine salts have many purposes, and wine connoisseurs are sure to love every one of them. They can pair these salts directly with wine by tasting the salt right after taking a sip, or they can use them while cooking to add an extra dash of flavor to any meal as a finishing touch. The salts go especially well with fish, marinades and salads.

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Infused with wine, the salt definitely takes on some of the wine's flavors, which your recipient will note when tasting the salt directly. Many brands of wine salt are available in a variety of wine flavors.

Wine Decanters

There's probably not a wine lover out there who doesn't have use for a decanter. Nowadays, as wine has enjoyed renewed popularity for dinner and cocktail parties, decanters are more essential than ever and come in many decorative shapes and sizes. Look for creative decanters to give as awesome gifts, as many people who are into wine already have more traditional decanters at home.

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If you can find a mouth-blown glass decanter, for example, that would certainly make the gift even more special. However, any decanter you choose will add a hint of luxuriousness to any wine lover's home bar.

A Unique Tabletop Wine Holder

Many wine lovers enjoy displaying their wine bottles in their homes to impress their dinner guests or just create a certain look. A unique tabletop wine holder might be the thing your wine-loving recipient's kitchen is missing. The most unusual wine holders might not be available in typical department stores, as artists often make them by hand.

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The best thing about giving the gift of an interesting wine holder is that the more interesting it is, the less likely it is that your recipient will already have something similar. Even if they do have another style, switching the holders out once in a while will give their kitchen a dash of variety.

To-Go Wine Tumblers

Plastic or stainless steel to-go wine tumblers will always get good use in a wine aficionado's world. They like to take wine on picnics and to the beach, when others might just settle for beer. On those occasions, they can't just pop the bottle in the cooler. They need something to drink their wine from, and that's where to-go wine tumblers come in.

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Some to-go wine tumblers are insulated, making them even better for keeping wine cold when sitting outside on a hot summer's day. For practicality's sake, remember that your recipient will probably carry these around in a bag, so be sure to avoid tumblers made of glass.

Wine Tote Bags

Wine lovers need to carry around their wine, so a wine tote bag can make an ideal gift for someone who is really into wine. After all, if they're going to carry those heavy bottles, they might as well carry them in style. Different from a standard tote bag, a wine tote generally has specific pockets where each bottle nestles comfortably and securely.

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Having separate wine-shaped compartments for individual bottles is crucial for this type of tote. This keeps the glass from clinking and potentially breaking. Wine totes are available at wineries, online or even at some department and boutique stores.

Macrame Wine Hangers

Macrame wine hangers are pretty trendy these days — and for good reason. Not only are they useful in providing a place to store wine, but they are eclectic decor accessories too. Imagine a cluster of them adding unique flair to a kitchen. It would certainly set you apart from those with simple clocks or fruit-filled still-life paintings.

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The gift of macrame wine hangers will undoubtedly be well-received by the majority of wine lovers out there. Most of them are made by artists rather than mass-produced, so you may have to check with local boutique stores or on Etsy to find good options.

Personalized Wine Glasses

Inscribing a set of wine glasses in a special way for a loved one can make for a truly wonderful gift. Wine lovers tend to drink wine often, so these are also something that will be put to good use. Plus, your recipient will probably feel good about where those wine glasses came from each time they see their personalized set.

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As far as personalizing the wine glasses goes, consider who is receiving the gift. For instance, if they are a wine connoisseur and a poetry lover, adding a famous quote from a poem to the glasses would be particularly thoughtful.

Artsy Wine Stoppers

Wine drinkers know that after a party, half-empty bottles of wine are usually the last guests remaining. It's almost inevitable unless the party kept going until all the wine was gone. Instead of letting any leftovers go to waste, your recipient needs some cool wine stoppers. They are, first and foremost, a very practical gift.

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But wine stoppers can be so much more than simply practical. Many stoppers have artsy designs on the top. Make cleanup and storage a little more fun when you choose stoppers topped with something that suits your recipient's personality.

A Wine Purifier

A person who is genuinely into wine knows that the beverage is full of sulfites — as a preservative — that can alter the flavor. Luckily, technology in the world of wine is advancing in that department thanks to Üllo. Üllo is a company that makes a wine purifier that promises to filter out all the sulfites.

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Üllo's wine purifiers can go to work to eliminate sulfites from a whole bottle or just one glass, completely removing the bitter flavor that sulfites add. It's a must-have, modern-day accessory for all wine lovers, which is why it makes such a perfect gift.

Handmade Wine Soaps

Having a wine soap bar in your bath adds a luxe touch. Surely, wine folks would love having a collection of wine soaps to use instead of the boring stuff they usually get from any old store. Many soapmakers include wine soaps in their collections these days, but you can always find artisanal wine soap on Etsy too.

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If you're asking why a person might want wine in their soap, you must not be big into wine. Some people simply welcome wine into their lives in whatever form it takes — even if that form is soap.

A Wine-Tasting Course

For the wine lovers out there who are looking to get a bit more educated, a wine-tasting course could be the dream gift they never knew they wanted. It could even be a gift that includes the gift giver, where you both go to the class together — how's that for a bonding experience?

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A quick search of wine-tasting courses in your area should help you locate one. If you live in a wine-growing region, there will probably be numerous options to choose from — all of them delicious. If there are none in your area, there are always online programs to join.

Wine Wipes

Red wine drinkers have inevitably experienced stained lips and teeth after drinking a couple of glasses of wine. Luckily, there's a solution: Wine Wipes. Gone is the embarrassment of going to the bathroom, only to realize you've been talking for hours with red film plastered across your teeth and mouth.

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Wine Wipes — think of them as like wet wipes but for removing wine — are formulated so they don't interfere with the wine's flavor. They make great portable gifts that any red wine drinker will appreciate more than you know.

A Wine Aroma Mastering Kit

Being a master of wine is a great skill to have, and part of that involves understanding wine's various aromas. One way to reach mastery level is to dedicate some time to it, and with the wine aroma mastering kit, it's easier than ever. If you know your wine-loving friend would take pleasure in upping their knowledge, a wine aroma mastering kit could be a pleasant surprise in their life.

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Kits help a person identify wine's complex aromatic notes. The Le Nez du Vin wine mastery kit, for example, comes with 54 concentrated scents that are often found in wine, helping your recipient literally learn to sniff out those aromas.

Wine-Scented Candles

To wine lovers, the smell of wine is divine. For that reason, wine-scented candles such as Aydry + Co.'s lovely Champagne Brunch candle and Yankee Candle's Vineyard were created. With these candles, wine lovers can enjoy the scent without having to stick their noses in a glass or a bottle. Wine-scented candles are subtle, so there's no need to fear an overwhelming wino vibe emanating from the home either.

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In general, unique candles make great gifts. Wine-scented candles for people who specifically love wine add a special touch of thoughtfulness, showing your attention to detail.

Wine Glass Charms

When people are gathered together drinking wine, it's easy to lose track of glasses and forget whose glass is whose. Wine charms make that a non-issue. These little decorative pieces attach to the stems of wine glasses, letting each person know which glass is theirs, so they don't accidentally mix it up with someone else's.

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Wine drinkers will appreciate having these around to avoid inevitable wine glass mistakes — and also just because they're cute and funny. Many specialty wine stores have them available, and you can also find unique options on Etsy.

Wine Socks

A favorite novelty wine gift for any occasion is a pair of wine socks. Whether that means a tiny little glass of wine on the ankle of the sock or a funny phrase on the bottom of the socks that others can only read when the person is putting their feet up, wine socks are all the rage.

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Wine lovers just can't get enough of the funny socks. They serve as a subtle announcement of their fondness for this particular alcoholic beverage. They also make an especially great addition when you're giving someone a bottle of wine — adding something extra to a more ordinary present.

The World Atlas of Wine

The World Atlas of Wine is a reference book by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson that focuses on wines all across the planet. Because wine lovers tend to enjoy wines from all the great wine regions of the world, most will find this book of interest.

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This book was the first true wine resource of its kind, initially available in 1971. Even today, it's still one of the most popular wine books out there and has sold more than 4 million copies. If you know a wine lover with a birthday coming up, you can't go wrong with this book.

Red Wine Stain Remover

Every wine drinker knows that sipping red wine while wearing a white shirt can be a recipe for disaster. As a result, one of the greatest gifts you can give a red wine lover is a little bottle of red wine stain remover, such as the popular Chateau Spill red wine stain remover.

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These specialty stain removers are usually packaged in portable spray bottles that are easy to carry around. This is smart, as red wine emergencies often happen at restaurants, where the spray might just save the life of your recipient's clothing if they spill.

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