With Valentine's Day around the corner, it's a good time to think about gifts. You can never go wrong with a bottle of wine, but if the person you're buying for really loves wine, it's worth thinking a little wider.
Serious wine drinkers can be picky, which makes them harder to buy for, not easier. Given the time they put into choosing a bottle themselves, handing them one is a slightly risky move. So here are fourteen ideas, wine included.
1. Alexandria Premium Cuvée Red
You can never go wrong with a bottle of wine. That's the whole point of buying for a wine lover.
Alexandria Premium Cuvée Red has a deep colour and red and black fruit on the nose, with a little tobacco and spice behind it. Note the full name when you're ordering: Alexandria is a family of wines, not a single one, and the Premium Cuvée is a different bottling from the Classic.
2. A cordless wine opener
Is the person you're buying for both tech-minded and a wine drinker? A powered opener earns its place, particularly for anyone who hosts. Most will open dozens of bottles on a single charge.
Many of them double as vacuum sealers, which handles the other half of the problem: the bottles nobody finished.
3. A wine tote
If you're the kind of couple who picnics, a proper tote makes carrying bottles far less precarious. Look for two bottle holders and a cheese board built in. The better ones add security straps and a compartment for food, so you're not carrying three bags.
4. A wine-making kit
Making your own wine sounds impossible until you try it. Home kits come with the equipment and the ingredients, and produce a drinkable result if you follow the instructions carefully.
It does take some patience and a bit of proficiency, so it's a gift for someone who enjoys a project rather than someone who wants a glass tonight.
5. Barovo Red
Our flagship. Barovo Red comes from a single high-altitude site and spends eighteen months in new French oak. Blackberry and plum, real structure, and a long finish.
Cook something with weight to it, ideally red meat off a grill. It will hold its own.
6. A good wine book
Coffee-table wine books are a reliable gift, particularly for someone newer to it. Look for one with practical how-tos rather than pure photography, and it'll actually get opened.
7. A decanter
On the pricier side, but appreciated by anyone who drinks red. A long neck and a wide body give the wine air and let sediment settle. Check it's dishwasher-safe before you buy, because most aren't and hand-washing one is a chore.
8. A blind tasting game
Learning sticks better when there's wine involved. Blind tasting games are built for people with no prior experience, which is exactly who they suit. All you need is a few bottles and an evening.
9. A bottle chiller
For anyone who's watched a white go warm in ten minutes on a hot day. A sleeve or portable chiller saves the back-and-forth to the fridge and travels well.
10. A neon sign
Neon has made a comeback and suits a certain kind of room. If the person you're buying for likes modern, minimal decor, this lands. If they don't, it very much doesn't.
11. Good glasses
Even an ordinary bottle shows better in a decent glass. Titanium crystal is the usual recommendation: thin, strong, and mostly dishwasher-friendly. A set of reds and a set of whites covers almost everything.
12. A wine and cheese card deck
Fifty pairing ideas in a box. The good decks teach you the underlying profiles rather than just listing combinations, so you end up making your own.
13. A silicone wine glass holder
What's better than a glass of wine on the sofa? A glass of wine in the shower, apparently. The holder sticks to most surfaces and the drainage keeps water out. A joke gift that gets used.
14. Alexandria Premium Cuvée Rosé
Fourteenth and last, and it had to be a bottle. Alexandria Premium Cuvée Rosé has a pale salmon colour and soft stone fruit and berry aromatics. Again, note the full name.
That's the list. Every one of them works, so pick based on what you know about the person rather than what's highest on the page.
And for anyone marking Galentine's instead: wine is still the answer. Have a look at the range, or the cases if you're buying for more than two.