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Wine Media

Christmas Gift Guide for Wine Lovers 2021

This year has disappeared and somehow Christmas is nearly upon us. To help you get the *perfect* gift for your wine loving friend/partner/Mum, I’ve put together this Christmas Gift Guide with awesome wine related gifts so you get mega brownie points in the present department this year.

To keep it clear, I’ve split the Christmas Gift Guide bonanza list into STUFF and EXPERIENCES. We all know people who have too much stuff or people who just prefer activities over things. There’s links to everything so you can get buying now as well so let’s get into it winos.

CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE PART 1: STUFF

Vacuvin

Christmas gift guide hand holding vacuvin in front of brick wall
My beloved Vacuvin

This is the gift you didn’t know you needed. The Vacuvin is a vacuum pump that extracts air from your bottle of vino and seals it with a washable, reusable stopper, helping keep your wine for longer.

Okay, okay, insert joke about not needing to keep wine. But reality is, you’ll have some leftover at some point.

Your auntie will crack into the good stuff then fall asleep or you might fancy just a glass because you have shit to do later and you want to drink the rest tomorrow.

Enter Vacuvin to keep your wine FRESH! It’s only about $20 on Amazon so not a break the bank pressie.

Corkcicle

christmas gift guide corkcicle wine chiller laying flat on tiled floor
Corckcicle wine chiller

A fun one for you, the Corkcicle keeps your wine chilled AND aerated with an icicle shaped, freezable insert and aerator cap.

First, pop the chiller in the freezer. Then, when you’ve served a ‘taste’ from your wine bottle, put the Corkcicle into your wine. You can either chill room temp reds (or keep chilled reds cool if, like me, you’re into that) or to keep whites chilled.

Then, when you want a top up, take the cap off and pour while the Corkcicle stays in your vino.

Neat idea actually, especially if you live in a hot, Sydney based apartment like I do plus they look cool!

Corkcicle is another chill $20 or so plus they have 10% off your first order which is sweet. 

Bottle opener

christmas gift guide purple and silver bottle opener on wooden surface
Pulltaps bottle opener from P&V

Everyone needs one. I have one in every bag. And you can get some really cute, wacky, expensive ones – there’s really a bottle opener for everyone.

Some eccentric openers I’ve seen on my travels have been adorned with (fake) jewels, light up and some even sing. 

A bit more subtle and classier is one of my personal favs pals at P&V gave me from Pulltaps. They’re pretty profesh and it feels heavy which means quality to me! Not like it’s going to snap three twists into the cork of my Pinot G.

They’re also made in Spain which is pretty cool.

Have a Google but here’s one I found on catch.com

Clothes

christmas gift guide white t shirt with gamay written across it
Wine garms

Because if you don’t drink or talk about it enough, you can always wear it! Then people definitely know you’re a wine lover as you sit around in your garments with not literal wine splashed all over them (save that for the weekend) but a big old show of your love for your favourite grape/region/winemaker.

I got the pictured tee from The Wine About who has a wide range of tees plus bags on the way!

There are lots of options floating around, some of them cute, a lot of them tacky as you can imagine and it’s not limited to t-shirts. Think jumpers, hats, aprons. Oh yeah, even if you haven’t thought of it yet, chances are the internet already has it. 

I would swerve the ones with swirly fonts in the ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ style and go for something in a non offensive colour like white, burgundy or navy.

Love what Aryanna from @RoseandChambray has put together in her @winestyleshop. Think bright coloured tees and sweatshirts with v cute slogans on there. Adding the may contain Merlot jumper to my Christmas wish list!

Books

christmas gift guide wine books stacked in a pile on wooden surface
Wine books

I LOVE me a wine read. You can’t drink wine at every minute of the day (well you can, but you shouldn’t) and if you’re anything like me and love learning about the stuff, books are a great gift. 

Some of my recent reads I’ve been raving about include Vignette by Jane Lopes, Wine Girl by Victoria James and The Widow Clicquot by Tilar J. Mazzeo. All truly spectacular reads by all truly spectacular women. 

Parents also got me The Oxford Companion to Wine which has been very useful for me but potentially too big/serious for your average wine lover. You can see other top wine reads in my best wine books blog here. 

I get most of my books from Book Depository in Australia as I’m keen on the real feels you get from holding a book in your hot little mit. You can of course find most of them on Amazon and Kindle as well.

Wine Art For Your Walls

christmas gift guide hands holding up three wine paintings of mountains in purple and pink
Wine wall art

This is the big one and one of my favourite presents from my big 3-0 last year.

The lovely and very talented Elysia Myers takes wine and turns it into WINE ART. I know, genius!

Based in Denver, Colorado Elysia left the corporate world of PR to pursue her love for art (and wine). She takes inspiration from the local scenery and her passion really comes through in her work. Her prints are stunning and she has everything from landscapes to flowers, splatters to a wine colour key.

I got ‘The {Mountains} wine is calling and I must go’ and the three, wine coloured prints are proudly displayed in my living room for everyone to see how wine obsessed I really am haha. 

Find out more about Elysia and her work on her website.

EXPERIENCES

Hot Air Balloon Ride

christmas gift guide woman overlooking hunter valley vineyards with hot air balloons in sky
Hot air balloon ride over Hunter Valley

Go big or go home right? A flight in a hot air balloon has been on my bucket list for a long time and my husband got me a trip over the Hunter Valley for my 30th birthday – let me tell you wine pals, it did not disappoint.

Kicking things off with a four a.m. start was a little bit of a shock to the system but it was well worth it as the weather was clear and crisp and the views were really beautiful as the fog cleared and the kangaroos hopped around below us. There’s something magical about gliding past the grape vines with the only sound being the whoosh of the flames above you.

Beyond Ballooning took us up, up and away and I couldn’t rate them any higher. They were all so lovely and went above and beyond (see what I did there) to put your mind at ease. Plus they bloody loved it and that rubs off you on you, you know?

Grape Stomping

christmas gift guide blonde woman grape stomping red wine grapes in blue container
Grape stomping at Urban Winery

Time to get knee deep in wine, literally! I went grape stomping a couple of years ago at Urban Winery in Sydney and it was sooo much fun.

Don your best, worst clothes that you don’t mind getting wine-y (it’s red wine too so no whites, mates) and get prepped for some pie-age – that’s wine speak for pushing the grape skins back into the juice.

The experience included an intro to Urban Winery and a tasting of their current line up before we washed our feet and hopped in! Genius really, getting people to do the work for you. We were rewarded with a charcuterie board and even took a bottle home with us too.

Unfortunately this experience is off the table at the moment (damn you covid) but you can still go for a wine blending session (I’ve also done this one and can vouch that it was v fun), take a tour and tasting or just pop in for a self guided wine flight.

See the winemaker experiences on Urban Winery’s site.

Event Tickets

christmas gift guide blonde woman in black t shirt presenting in wine class
Sydney Wine Class

Another thing covid has managed to f*ck up for us in terms of big events like Barossa be Consumed and Pinot Palozza, both of which I recommend for when life is up and running again!

But there are still some smaller events and class options including Newtown’s P&V, virtual courses on Sydney Wine academy or (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT) one of my virtual wine sessions.

On Thursday 11th March, I have a virtual tasting in partnership with New Era Vineyards. Book your tickets now and travel to Adelaide Hills without the risk of quarantine, help support a winery still recovering from the bushfires and taste beautiful wines with the winemaker while he shows us a sneak peek of the 2021 vintage!

So there’s my Christmas gift guide winos! Let me know how you go. 
Cheers,
Lorna

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