How to Choose a Bottle of Wine as a Gift

If you are looking for the perfect bottle of wine for someone, it can be as impossible as buying lingerie for a grab bag gift exchange...with your family. You are probably not intimately familiar your gift recipient's palate, and you probably don't know what's already stocked in his or her cellar. I contend that you don't need the perfect fit. Most Americans buy either Cabernet or Chardonnay. Although Napa Valley Cabs are an easy bet, the idea behind a gift is buying something that someone might not buy themselves.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

How To Choose a Bottle of Wine as a Gift

1. Expand their wine world. Introduce them to a grape, or "varietal," that they might not have tried yet like a Barbara, Carignane or Albarino.

2. Pair their wine for them. Attach a card around the neck of the bottle with a food pairing suggestion. When buying a Rioja Tempranillo, suggest them to crack it open the next time they order in pizza. Take-out Thai? Gewurztraminer. Picking up fresh fish or oysters for dinner? Albarino from Spain. If you've got a self-proclaimed BBQ guru in your life, have them dip into a Zinfandel or Syrah to go with those ribs.

3. Sign and date the bottle of wine. By personalizing the label with your signature, you make it fun and sentimental for people to dig through their stash of wine. When you have more than two bottles in your stash and you constantly rotating wines in and out of your collection, you quickly lose track of how bottles were acquired. So help your friend out with your signature and maybe a sweet, succinct note.

4. If you are still not confident on what to buy, toss a couple dollars at a sparkling wine.

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