The Best Wine-Tasting Gifts to Give

When you buy something through our link, we may earn a small commission from our affiliate partners. Wine Enthusiast maintains complete editorial independence and all wines are blind tasted. Read more about our policy.

With the festive season well underway, what to give to friends, family and colleagues is likely top of mind. It certainly has been for our critics and editors, who have been rounding up the best individual bottles of wine to give. While these are excellent for many occasions, sometimes a grander gesture is warranted, which is why we often like to give a gift themed around wine tasting. These gifts—which include sampler kits, journals, glassware and more—keep on giving, which makes for a more memorable impact than a bottle alone.

“A single bottle of wine makes a nice gift, but a sampler kit opens the door to an adventure waiting to be shared,” says Wine Enthusiast Tasting Director Anna-Christina Cabrales. “Research shows that experiences bring more lasting joy than objects, so gifting a selection of wines to explore creates memorable moments together. It’s the kind of thoughtful touch that makes your gift truly unforgettable.”

Some things to think about before selecting a gift: What does the recipient like to drink? Are they red or white wine fans? Do they appreciate variety? Also, keep an eye on the size of these kits. While some offer full-sized bottles, it’s also common for there to be smaller servings, which offer more variety for the volume. If you’re planning for two people to enjoy the kit experience, you might want to double up.

Of course, a wine-tasting gift doesn’t necessarily need to include wine. This is especially true if a giftee is picky—leave the bottle selection to them and instead opt for a gift that will help them enjoy it more, like a customized corkscrew, a tasting journal or glassware.

With all this in mind, our esteemed Tasting Department pulled together some of the best wine-tasting gifts to give, which are listed below.

The Best Gift Boxes Overall for Wine Lovers

A themed gift box can help spread holiday cheer.

In Good Taste offers artfully packaged sampler kits with six-ounce bottles that are large enough to share. Their advent calendar—stocked with 24 mini bottles including Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache and Shiraz—is a popular gift.

VineBox is another standout. It offers a holiday-themed kit with red, white and rosé wines from Europe (including examples from France, Spain and Portugal) or the Coastal U.S.

The Best Mini Sampler Kit

To appreciate the nuances of a wine, it’s key to try it alongside other bottles to understand how varietals, blends or vintages differ from one another.

Our Tasting Department recommends the mini sampler from Boxt, which offers eight bottles—four reds, three whites and a rosé—mercifully in 100-ml pours, so you can try everything without risking a hangover.

The Best Red Wine Tasting Kit

Napa Valley Cabs are famous for a reason and this three-bottle kit from Wine.com with an accompanying tasting video offers an array of wines from some of the most famous producers in the region. They include a 2018 vintage from Joseph Phelps, which scored 94 points in Wine Enthusiast’s blind tasting; a 2017 vintage from Duckhorn, which earned 90 points; and a 2017 vintage from Chimney Rock that nabbed 90 points.

The Best White Wine Tasting Kit

Rieslings are having a moment right now, as the German-style white wine—which can be dry, sweet, still or lightly sparkling—is receiving more recognition. This tasting trio from Wine.com offers three styles ranging from crisp to juicy from South Australia, Germany and Washington state.

The Best Sweet Wine Sampler Kit

As Wine Enthusiast Writer at Large Aleks Zecevic wrote in his guide to giving sweet wines, the outcasts of the oenophile world are finally getting some much-deserved love. There’s so much variety in this category, which is why we like the sweet wine tasting kit from the Napa-based winery Castello di Amorosa that offers a Moscato with armoas of orange blossom and honeydew, a Riesling with soft floral notes and stone fruit and an Italian-style soft-sparking wine with notes of wild berries and pomegranate.

The Best Mixed-Varietal Sampler Kit

This four-bottle kit from Wine.com is like a trip through Bordeaux—no plane ticket needed. The bottles include Bordeaux Blanc, Medoc, Sauternes and St. Emilion wines and the kit comes with a virtual guided tasting.

The Best Sampler for Budding Wine Enthusiasts

For budding wine lovers who are interested in becoming more fluent in the language and technical elements of wine, go for something educational. We recommend a Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Level 1 certification course (which the Wine Enthusiast Academy offers) and a tasting kit of wines to go with the class.

The Best Glassware for Wine Tasting

Consider giving your wine-loving giftee glassware that’s purpose-designed for tasting. The Wine Enthusiast tasting panel uses the Aria Short Stem Universal glass for all of its blind ratings, and the durable, dishwasher-safe vessels make excellent gifts.

A Beautiful Corkscrew

A thoughtful gift is often something that the recipient will use frequently. We’re partial to a beautifully-made corkscrew from a trusted brand like Laguiole, such as the ones below, respectively crafted from opalescent cattle horn and grape wood. Both have sturdy, wear-resistant, stainless-steel screws and accents and can be personalized.

A Stylish Tasting Journal

If the wine-lover on your list is either just getting into wine or an aficionado, a journal in which they can jot down their tasting notes is a thoughtful gift. This leather-bound journal works a little like a scrapbook: There are pages for pasting labels and ample space to record the flavors, aromas and more from each bottle.