2021 Winery Holiday Gift Guide: 10 Wine Experience Gift Ideas You Should Be Offering This Season
Written By Ashley Decarli
Gift Ideas Developed with Lilia Alvarez Nevarez
(5 min read)
The holiday season is here, and for many, the hunt for the perfect present is well underway. Lucky for wineries, wine remains a go-to gift year after year. But despite its staple status, is wine really living up to its present potential? Are your wine gifts so unique that customers are clamoring over them?
While you want your wine to continue to be that quintessential present for the holiday party host, it can and should be so much more. Your wine has the opportunity to become the most meaningful gift under the tree. How? By turning your typical holiday wine packages into WINE EXPERIENCES!
Rather than just festively wrapped sets of wine, create one-of-a-kind wine experiences that showcase the personality of your wine brand and, most importantly, tap into personal tastes of your target customers.
What kind of experiences? Well, you can most certainly lean into existing experiences such as your on-site tastings, tours and wine club, but we encourage you to take things a step further. Get creative and develop gift experiences that bring your wine into people’s homes. Craft a wine experience for those who love to entertain, an experience for those who yearn for enrichment and even an experience for the playful at heart. The possibilities are endless! Just make sure they are as special as the holiday season.
So, if your winery is ready to elevate your gift offering this year, HERE ARE 10 GIFT EXPERIENCE IDEAS to get you started.
#1: The Gift of Entertaining
WHAT: Offer the Gift of Entertaining by curating an at-home wine-dinner party experience.
WHO: Perfect for the doting dinner party host.
WHY: Wine is meant to be experienced with food, family and friends. This is an opportunity for your wine to be shared appropriately and showcased proudly beyond your tasting room and in the heart of one’s home.
HOW: Give the recipient absolutely everything they need to host an unforgettable evening. To start, choose a brand-driven theme to develop a dinner party around. With the theme as your guide, select three wines that create a progressive food and wine tasting. For food, provide step-by-step recipes to be prepared by the recipient. If you need help developing the menu, look to a local restaurant partner for support. Don’t forget: A memorable dinner experience is just as much about the conversation and atmosphere as it is the meal itself, so be sure to consider wine pairings beyond food. We suggest including a scannable playlist, conversation questions/topics for added entertainment and maybe even small decor details — all of which should highlight the character of your wine and the brand theme. Finally, arm your host with information he/she can share with his/her guests. Provide polished collateral that tells your brand story and explains nuances of the wine, the reasoning for the pairings (food, playlist, questions, etc.) and the flavors they’ll experience.
#2: The Gift of Play
WHAT: Offer the Gift of Play by crafting a lively game night pairing experience.
WHO: Perfect for the board game enthusiasts we know and love.
WHY: Wine and games gather people together while bringing a bit of life into a room. This gift experience allows your winery to showcase a lighthearted, creative side while still delivering an enriching wine experience.
HOW: While it's best to resist creating a drinking game, you do want to design a tasting experience around the game itself. As you craft your wine and game pairing, carefully consider the nature of the game you select so that it aligns with your brand. Once you’ve chosen the game, lean into it conceptually to develop your creatively playful wine pairings.
For example, let's say you choose the latest version of Trivial Pursuit because your wine brand is new yet built on generations of family wine knowledge (quite fitting). In this case, you could select wines that match the character of each question category — History, Science & Nature, Arts & Literature, Sports & Leisure, Entertainment, and Geography — and instruct for the wine to be tasted when the first corresponding pie piece is earned. To select teams, give them a few trivia questions of your own. We suggest supplying bubbly to be sipped while selecting teams. Your collateral should explain your game selection, offer tasting instructions and showcase why each wine exemplifies the character of the category.
#3: The Gift of Winter Warmth
WHAT: Offer the Gift of Winter Warmth by creating an enveloping wine experience for two.
WHO: For the perpetually chilled, wine-loving person you want to cozy up to.
WHY: As the seasons change, so do one’s cravings for wine and so much more. This sensory-rich, seasonal experience is sure to be a memory maker.
How: Start by selecting a few bottles of wine worthy of the fireside. We suggest your more full-bodied, spicier wines. Add a scannable playlist that suits your brand and sets the seasonal mood. Then, to take things from cozy to toasty, provide all of the essentials for a fireside setup: a fire log, fluffy blanket and favorite winter accessory (wool socks for fireplace or beanies for a firepit). While the wine and fire are sure to warm the body, it’s important to have a little something that will warm the soul — shared memories. Along with tasting instructions and notes, include a collateral piece that conveys one of your most tender memories connected to your wine. You want to get personal and invite recipients into your wine world. On that same collateral piece, give them a few questions that prompt the recipients to take a stroll down memory lane and share some of their most cherished experiences — wine related and beyond.
#4: The Gift of Craft
WHAT: Offer the Gift of Craft with an at-home, wine-infused cocktail-making experience.
WHO: For the wine-loving mixologist who appreciates a unique cocktail and a good story.
WHY: While your wines can most definitely stand on their own, this gift allows people to refine a playful yet sophisticated skill while exploring uncommon ways your wine can be enjoyed.
HOW: To start, develop a few wine-based cocktails that are absolutely unique, incredibly tasty and most importantly, characteristic to your wine brand. Don’t forget: Every cocktail needs a name. Get creative! Once you’ve decided on the names, it’s time to build the gift. Include all of the ingredients the recipient will need — your wine, the spirits, the mixers and even garnishes (with the exception of any fresh fruit or juices). Also, consider adding a nice set of cocktail glasses or a mixer. As for the at-home class instructions, there are few approaches you can take. You can conduct a live virtual class on a predetermined date, prerecord an instructional video for recipients to access via a QR code or simply include written instructions to accompany the recipe collateral. In any case, the class should not only teach them how to make the cocktail, it should also immerse them into your world of wine. Because there’s a strong parallel between the skill of wine making and that of cocktail making — both are part science and part art — we suggest sharing your wine-making story. Explain your philosophies, techniques and style behind your wine craft.
#5: The Gift of Dinner Done
WHAT: Offer the Gift of Dinner Done with an exceptional wine and food pairing experience delivered to the recipient’s door.
WHO: For that person who deserves a refined break from daily responsibilities.
WHY: You get to showcase your collaborative creativity all while delivering effortless enjoyment that is sure to impress all those who receive.
HOW: Partner with a beloved local restaurant to create a dinner experience that complements both your wine and your brand. Work collaboratively with the restaurant as you craft food pairings with 2–3 of your wines. Once you’ve determined the menu, start developing the gift. It should include the wine to be enjoyed and directions detailing how the recipient can coordinate with the restaurant to plan their dinner delivery. Along with those essentials, add a few elements that take the guesswork out of the evening — a set of universal wine glasses, a scannable playlist and a story for entertainment. We suggest you share the story behind the menu — how it was crafted, who was involved, what drove the flavor direction and why it characterizes your wine brand. Storytelling comes in many formats, but you may want to consider a prerecorded video or book-like written collateral.
#6: The Gift of Peaceful Puzzling
WHAT: Offer the Gift of Peaceful Puzzling with a wine experience that takes recipients through the puzzle piecing process from start to finish.
WHO: For the patient puzzler who appreciates a quality pour.
WHY: Wine and puzzles make an absolutely perfect pairing. Both are complex, immersive and highly enjoyable. When combined, they're a stimulating and relaxing escape.
HOW: First, find a puzzle that captures your wine region and/or brand story. Puzzles have become quite popular, so you’ll have plenty of tasteful options to choose from, including the beautifully illustrated wine puzzles by Water and Wines. But, if you just can’t find what you’re looking for, create a custom puzzle using your winery photography. Once you have a puzzle, start selecting the wine you will include. We suggest you pair a bottle of wine with each distinct phase of the puzzle process or perhaps the image sections of that puzzle design. The wine should match the character of that phase and/or section.
For example, you could start with a wine that’s light and approachable while the puzzle pieces are unpacked and organized. Once it’s time to piece together the edges, provide something with a bit more structure but not so bold that it overwhelms what's yet to come. As the recipient moves into the center of the puzzle, give them one of your heavier, more full-bodied reds to see them through it. And upon completion, have a wine worthy of a celebration such as bubbly or a dessert-like port.
Your collateral should introduce the recipient to your wine brand, explain your puzzle choice and provide detailed pairing notes and instructions for each wine.
#7: The Gift of Enrichment
What: Offer the Gift of Enrichment with an at-home, educational wine experience.
WHO: For those eager to expand their connection to wine, their knowledge of it and/or appreciation for it.
Why: People who have a real interest in wine want to learn more about it. This is an opportunity to be a guide on their educational wine journey.
How: Create an at-home wine course complete with a tasting class, books and study materials. When it comes to the topic, lean into a theme that best tells your brand story. Stay away from generic themes such as a “red wine tasting”; instead, be original. Once determined, select your wines based on that theme. The type of tasting class you design will depend on your target customer’s relationship with wine. If your customers are wine experts, perhaps you go with a blind-tasting structure. If they’re wine-curious newbies, perhaps you take them through the tasting basics. No matter the case, your class can be conducted via virtual instruction, a prerecorded video or written guides. Be sure to include wine tools the recipient can use during the class and long after it’s over — a tasting journal, aroma wheels, regional charts, etc. And for homework, give the recipient a book or two that will continue to nurture their wine exploration and appreciation. Your collateral should explain the theme and wines, offer instructions for the experience and provide guidance for their wine journey ahead.
#8, 9 and 10: The Gift of Self-Care
WHAT: Offer the Gift of Self-Care by creating a rejuvenating wine experience.
WHO: For those looking for a bit of elevated inspiration and indulgence.
WHY: This gift invites people to slow down and savor the things that make them feel human. You get to put your wine at the center of these refreshing moments.
HOW: While self-care comes in all shapes and sizes, this gift should nurture the mind, body and soul. We suggest creating three mini wine experiences that embody those three aspects of self-care. For each, select a fitting wine, activity and any additional elements that will ensure the recipient is left feeling rejuvenated. You can either package this as one gift or three separate ones. The choice is up to you!
For the MIND, pick a wine with intellectually challenging characteristics. Maybe something that falls outside a standard style or something with more complex notes and hard-to-pin flavors. Then, pair it with an equally intellectually stimulating read. You could include a popular best-seller or let the recipient decide on the book with a one-month Audible credit. Provide a blanket to make their contemplation cozy.
For the BODY, pick a wine that’s all about relaxation. While spas tend to serve sparkling wine, consider something really smooth — a medium-bodied wine with a silky texture and creamy flavors. Then include all of the essentials to enjoy a soothing bath while sipping your wine — a candle, bath bomb, face mask and, of course, a soft playlist. Add a robe and slippers to extend the relaxing bliss beyond the bath.
For the SOUL, choose a wine that’s introspective — the one that best represents the purpose behind your wine brand. Encourage the recipient to reflect on their own purpose and goals while enjoying the wine. Include a journal where they can record their initial thoughts and continue to document their daily intentions. Curate a soulful playlist for this quiet time with their journal.
Your collateral should introduce the recipient to your wine brand, explain each self-care wine pairing (why the wine was chosen and how its character reflects the experience) and offer instructions for the experiences.
Hopefully these ideas have given you a bit of gift inspiration! Whether you choose to run with our recommendations or develop entirely new experiences of your own, be sure to evaluate every aspect of the experience through your brand lens. These gifts are an extension of your wine brand, so they should delight your customer while also telling your story.
