At the beginning of each year I find myself confronted with the same problem: Almost my entire family is celebrating their birthday within the first two months of the year. So right after Christmas I begin to panic and spend my evenings on my computer trying to find thoughtful gifts. After two weeks of tearing my hair I surrender and choose random gifts which I can order from amazon.
I actually like finding something special for the people I love. It is a great pleasure to see the expression on their faces when they discover that you know them well and picked the right present. It usually is very difficult for me to keep a good gift a secret and to wait until I can hand it over to the person. For me giving is much more fun than receiving which is certainly the motivation for this blog post (don’t get me wrong I adore your presents, Michael!). I thought it would be a great idea to create a list with thoughtful and creative gifts for wine lovers. Of course not everyone in my family is an explicit wine lover (especially not the ones which are under 16 – not yet) but some of the gifts can also be given to people who appreciate delicious food, a nice design and good company (ok, this also doesn’t really apply to the ones which are under 16).
Let’s start with your brother who is too cool for school. A hipster who lives in a big city and loves riding his hipster bike. With this wine carrier from oopsmark he will be the king of hipsterness (I don’t live in hipster town anymore but as soon as I will buy myself a new bike I will order one of these for me, too).
If you have a geeky friend who spends most of his time playing video games and has no friends apart from you – the Corkers robots from monkey business are the perfect gift (I love them and gave one to Michael for his last birthday. Yes, he is a geek and plays video games but he has more than one friend). It comes in a cool packaging which you can put on the wine bottle you bring along. We also sell them as part of a wine package via voelkerwein.de.
Next is your beautiful mom who is warm-hearted and always makes you feel like home. She loves to make herself comfortable with a good book and a glass of Pinot Noir. You will make her happy with a simple but elegant gift like this candle from Rewined. It is constructed from re-purposed wine bottles, hand poured with natural soy wax and smells like her favourite wine.
Don’t forget your dad who is a man of pleasure and never rejects good food. He will love the cheese box from Brooklyn based AHeirloom. It includes not only a fantastic wooden cheese board but also stinky cheddar, sweet honey, delicious salami, crackers and chutney. For people from the US: you can choose a board shaped like your favourite state – how awesome is this?!
Wine wars is a great gift for your brother in law who likes James Bond and who is very competitive (study the cards and beat this eager beaver!!). Michael and I used to play this a million times when we lived in London. We bought a bottle of amazing wine, got drunk and learned a lot about wine.
Mondovino is a wonderful documentary about the impact of globalisation on the world’s different wine regions. It is the BEST wine documentary I have seen so far and I can highly recommend it. It would be a great gift for your best friend who loves nature and shares your ideas about wine making.
A fantastic gift for the person you love or you are married to: Take a local class in blind wine tasting together. I am sure you can find courses in every big city, like this one in New York. Just ask at your local wine shop. They usually offer wine tastings for a small amount of money.
A pretty cool gift for the person you are in love with and you want to marry: A wine sampling card. I am not sure if such a system exists everywhere but if you live in London you are lucky: The sampler is a shop where you can buy a sampling card and try tons of different wines from small budget wines to old or rare vintages from unusual areas. There are two branches in London which also offer a great variety of biodynamic and organic wines. Buy a sampling card for the person you are secretly in love with and impress her or him with your knowledge. Or just share a wonderful afternoon together, get a bit tipsy and kiss on your way home.
If these presents are not special and creative enough you should support a small wine making project (like ours). Invest a few bucks and the person you want to give a present to will receive a few bottles of the first wines. It is risky but definitely unusual. Or just browse kickstarter and see if there is any wine project which needs funding.
As for me, I got the most precious gift at all: This sweet face is killing me! Those curious and clever eyes, soft arms, chubby feet and warm neck. Oskar, I love you to the moon and back!!
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