Shopping for the wine enthusiast is easy as there are so many ideas for gifts. This article includes gifts that are pricey but also includes more resonable gift ideas.1. Wine Gift Basket: A gift basket makes a delightful gift for the wine lover as it can be personalized according to the taste of the recipient. For example, A Taste of California offers a Tour of Italy gift basket that treats dinner guests to a taste of Venice. It includes  a choice of wine either the Torciano Cabemet, a Cabemet Sauvignon with overtones of raspberry, or Pasqua Pinot Grigio which is a light wine. With the wine comes Tomato Paste, Venus Italian garlic and sesame breadsticks, Italian cookies, Colavita Italian pasta and marina Sauce. Everything you need for an Italian dinner party for a price of $119.00. Another selection from the same company offers a chance to sample wines form around the world. You receive 6 imported wines: a Pinot Noir from Chile, Malbec from Argentina, Sauvignon Blanc form Napa, Vernaccia from Tuscany, Chardonnay form Australia, and Chateau de Camarsac from France. It comes in a wood box with an etched vineyard pattern on the lid. The price is $179.00. 2. Wine: Obviously, the wine aficionado will appreciate a chance to sample new wines. You can purchase from your local wine shop or a winery. The staff at each will be happy to educate you on the best wines to try and offer a wide range of prices. 3. Glasses and Decanters: Riedel decanters are exquisitely madeand enhance the wine drinking experience. The new Mezzo line (which means “half”, in Italian) help preserve the unfinished portion of the bottle, extending the life of the wine. Various shapes are available including the traditional as well as one shaped like a duck. The price is $179.95. Another choice is handmade crystal; the highest performing glassware for wine is another great selection for the wine lover. Each glass in the Sommeliers series gives full expression to specific wines and spirits. The cost for a set of glasses is $259.95. 

Consider Some Options You May Have Tried!My father loves to quote  Sophia Loren in ‘Grumpier Old Men’  when we talk wine.  ‘I didn’t know wine could come in a box!” she quips.  Well, it can and does.  And that’s how I like to purchase my table wine.  Oh sure if I want to impress the school principal or parish priest, I’ll serve wine from a bottle (which I’ve decanted from my box!) Folks somehow equate quality with bottle and cork.  But in all honesty, you can enjoy some very fine vino from the Vella, Franzia and Almaden box with a spigot.  Why a box?  Well the benefits are many.  The most important is that it tastes delicious!   I am generally a red Merlot, Burgundy or Cabernet Sauvignon drinker.  Red wine is better for the blood.  I also like the white Chardonnay for a treat.  These are the more expensive of the boxed variety, being about $2 more than the sweeter chablis, house red or Zinfandels.  So I can speak better on these varieties.  I have enjoyed the costlier varieties and the difference is in price only.  Now if I want the Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir I sometimes desire, well then I look t the bottle, as they aren’t available in box.  But the  differnece is in the grape, region and variety not the packaging.Next, the box stays fresh longer than a refrigerated half-bottle.  The spigot is attached to a plastic ‘bladder’ which is air-tight.  Second day bottled wine is pretty stale, so it’s ‘kill it in one sitting or toss the rest’.  The cost is where the box really pulls ahead, though!  A 750ml bottle of modestly priced wine is $5-10.  The box at the same pricing and quality standards costs $12-$14 and holds 5 litres.  Calculating by the metric system, that equates to 5,000 ml or about 6.5  bottles of wine.  Even at $5 a bottle, that’s $32.50 for the bottles.  So the difference in cost is $20 to $43!