Giving Wine as a Gift

Read More

Grilled Portabella St. Clement The Newman's Own Organics Guide

Say you’ve decided to buy some wine for a friend. How nice of you. Now of course, you have to decide just how nice a bottle to buy. It can be tricky giving wine as a gift. Your palate and your friend’s tastes may not mesh.

At the very least, you should know if your friend prefers white or red wine. White wines, in general, are a little more accessible to the beginning wine drinker, particularly if he or she has just graduated from chain-drinking Surge.


If you’re buying wine as a hostess gift, and the occasion is festive, you can’t go wrong with champagne or a good bottle of domestic sparkling wine. Even non-connoisseurs are likely to enjoy a glass of bubbly now and again.

If your friend prefers white wine, you’re in luck because good California Chardonnays are extremely affordable. You can also go with a Pinot Grigio, a lighter white wine that’s also excellent with food.

If you’re buying a red wine for someone who mostly drinks white wine, or for someone who has only recently stopped drinking wine from a box, go for the more accessible red wines. Pinot Noir and Merlot, for example, are almost never bad choices.

For people who don’t drink much wine at all, the low-tannin Beaujolais is a good choice. It tends to be less acid than most red wines, and it’s acid that novice drinkers usually object to. (There’s a reason why many people begin their wine drinking with the sweet and fruity White Zinfandel.)

There’s absolutely no point in getting a truly great bottle of red wine for an unsophisticated wine drinker. He or she won’t be able to appreciate the subtleties of the wine and may even find it undrinkable. And if they open a bottle of great wine and let it go to waste, you’d have to kill them.

Buying for a connoisseur is even trickier. You’re not going to be able to get away with spending just $15 on a bottle. Consult your vintage lists and shop around. Talk to the salesperson at your favorite wine store, check out the recommendations in your favorite wine magazines, or go on-line for suggestions. And if you accidentally end up with a loser bottle, well–it’s the thought that counts.