Each of us has been in a situation when we had to choose a beautiful and useful gift. Many people have been puzzling over this dilemma for a very long time. It is believed that both women and men can choose expensive and high-quality alcohol, for example, wine as a gift. This is not an easy task, so let’s try to figure out what types of wines should be considered and how to properly arrange a gift.
A little history
Since the times of Ancient Rome, it was customary to give wine as a gift to a respected person. This meant a kind of sign of respect and veneration. The only difference is that back then there were not bottles, but amphorae. Moreover, of course, the very beautiful dishes looked advantageous, which immediately attracted attention to the gift. Nowadays, an attractive bottle with a successful design will also only attract approval.
Nuances of choice
To choose the right wine as a gift, you need to consider several points. Firstly, men and women have completely different tastes, so it is worth taking into account the gender, as well as the age, preferences and tastes of the person to whom the gift will be intended. Among other things, you need to look at your financial capabilities, since the price range for alcohol is quite wide: a bottle of good wine can cost several tens of dollars or several thousand. Not everyone can afford the last option. Although, according to experts, you can buy quite decent wine for twenty dollars.
You should be careful when choosing the brand of this drink. Depending on the requirements of the hero of the occasion, either dessert, fortified, or dry sparkling wine will be purchased. Some people like it very sweet, others like it semi-sweet, and still others like it even table-style. If there is no information about which one a person is leaning towards, then it is easier to choose the so-called “universal” - good or dry. Such alcohol will not hurt in any home, because often people drink such gifts not alone, but in the company of friends.
Present for ladies
A satisfying and responsible mission - to choose wine as a gift for a woman. It is generally accepted that young ladies are more capricious and picky about any gifts. And if you don’t please with wine, then don’t expect any favors. Therefore, this is always a difficult mission that requires some time and diligence. Again, it will not be difficult to choose a lady you know well, whose tastes have long been known. But if this is, for example, a boss who has never drank in front of you or talked about her alcoholic preferences, then the task becomes somewhat more complicated. Here it is necessary to resolve the issue with an eye to general principles. Thus, most women opt for light drinks. There are very rare cases when a lady likes something stronger. Next you need to decide: sweet or semi-sweet, white or red. Of course, sparkling wine and champagne are considered traditional gifts. On the one hand, they talk about the solemnity of the event, and on the other hand, such wine is stored for quite a long time, and it can be opened later. In other words, if a lady currently has enough drinks in the bar, it will not go to waste and will be useful for the future.
Gift for a man
It’s a little easier to find wine as a gift for a man, although here you need to think about it. We proceed from the fact that almost all representatives of the stronger sex prefer strong varieties. It is better to look towards expensive brands. For example, many produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grape varieties. As for the first, it has a distinct woody-fruity aroma and is vaguely reminiscent of whiskey. Even the most ardent gourmets will love this gift. If you give good sparkling wine, it will most likely act as a sign of attention and decoration of the festive table.
A short review of sparkling wines
Wine connoisseurs will always be happy to receive a bottle of high-quality, aged drink as a gift. Those with doubts are recommended to give two options at once: white and red wine, and then there will definitely be no mistake. For example, many people like Pinot Grigio, Shiraz, and Merlot. They are both easy to eat and go well with a variety of dishes. And for your friends’ wedding, you can buy a bottle of sparkling wine. By the way, such wines are divided into three types, differing in production technology.
The first type is drinks that undergo rapid champagne and are made from natural raw materials. Their taste is somewhat simple. This category includes a number of domestic representatives, as well as brands from Bulgaria and some Italian wines. For example, young people like Asti and Brachetto wines.
Wines of the second category are made using classical technology, in which secondary fermentation occurs and carbon dioxide is formed directly in the bottle during a period of long aging in a cool place. Traditional French champagne is produced precisely according to this principle. Such a bottle of wine as a gift for a woman would be an excellent choice.
The third type includes millesim sparkling wines. This term is used for those wines that are made based on the harvest of exactly one year. Moreover, the grapes are harvested by hand and carefully selected. Bottles of this wine are aged for a very long time, resulting in a special aroma and taste. This is how the elite of sparkling wines is formed.
Understanding dry wine
Experts distinguish between classic and new world dry wines in the world. The classics include high-quality European varieties, in which the bouquet and aging time (bottle and barrel) are valued. Thus, red wine “Margaux”, “Pauillac”, “Saint-Estephe”, “Châteauneuf-du-Pape”, etc. is in great demand.
Among the Italian ones, the highest places are occupied by Barbaresco, Barolo, Amarone, Chianti Classico and Brunello. But on the Spanish market, “Penedes”, “Rioja” and “Ribero del Duero” are held in high esteem.
Pink and white wines play differently. They have a lower percentage of alcohol, which makes them easier to perceive and are considered a wonderful gift in the summer heat. White wines can be light or dense. The former are characterized by a fresh aroma (with floral or fruity notes), a pronounced taste, sometimes with spicy or nutmeg undertones. These include Provencal dry Rieslings and Spanish drinks made from Alabariño grapes.
The latter - “full-bodied” - are revealed gradually due to a long stay in barrels. Names such as “Puligny”, “Chassagne-Montrachet”, “Meursault” will lift the spirits of any connoisseur of fine wine.
How to apply?
It is worth noting that beautiful packaging is mainly important for girls and women. Men most often pay attention to the contents of the bottle, and not the “wrapper”. Therefore, first of all, let’s look at how you can decorate a bottle of wine as a gift for a woman. Today there are a great many variations of different boxes and lovely packaging, so there will be no problems with the design.
Store option
The easiest way is to order wine as a gift directly in a store or supermarket. Some brands are already sold with packaging boxes. They look very stylish in appearance, and inside there is soft (or finely chopped) paper that protects the bottle from bumps and falls. As a rule, the name and type of wine are indicated on the box. But do not forget that the cost of such a gift immediately increases significantly. Therefore, if money is tight, you can arm yourself with designers’ ideas and package the wine yourself. Below are several ways to decorate a gift with your own hands.
Paper and towel
The easiest method is to decorate a bottle of wine as a gift using paper. This is, one might say, a classic of the genre. You can hang a small card or note with personal wishes from such a bottle. Another idea is to add a small addition to the main gift, such as a cute tea towel. It can be safely used as packaging; the present will look unusual, but at the same time practical. Instead of a towel, some craftsmen take a piece of beautiful material and wrap the bottle in such a way that the result is a comfortable case with a handle.
"Ace" in the hole
In our case, this is not a hidden card, but good alcohol. How to decorate a bottle of wine as a gift so that the surprise looks very original and different from everyone else? An excellent solution would be to use a sleeve from an old but fashionable shirt. You need to put the sleeve on the bottle with the cuff towards the top, and in the area of the narrow neck, tie a small tie on top of the fabric. The result will exceed all expectations and delight your imagination. The same steps can be done with the sleeves of a warm jacket or sweater, and instead of a tie, use a tie made of thread or ribbon.
Fabric covers
Needlewomen can sew bottle covers from strips of fabric. Wine as a gift will look great in a canvas bag, satin case, jeans, silk, etc. Separately, it is necessary to say about felt. You can quickly and easily deal with this fabric: fold a long strip of it in half and sew it on the sides, and trim the edges with curly scissors. The decoration will be a flower made of fabric of the same or, conversely, a contrasting color. Then everything depends on imagination. Some craftswomen know how to make decorations using beads, wire, various beads and other materials.
Many historians believe that people began to grow crops in order to make alcohol - even then they knew about its miraculous ability to relieve stress and fatigue.
To this day we drink alcoholic beverages for these purposes, except that their variety has become much greater. However, alcohol is also a wonderful gift for all occasions.
The main advantage of such a gift is that it is suitable for almost everyone: according to statistics, only 30% of the population does not drink alcohol (at the same time, among people under 24 years old this percentage is 23%).
Many people wonder: is it legal to give alcohol as a gift? The answer is yes. It is only illegal to sell alcohol without the proper permits.
In this article we will talk about all the intricacies of “hot” gifts, as well as how to choose them.
Choosing alcohol
Traditionally, men are given elite strong alcohol as a gift, but it is quite normal to give a man a bottle of good wine or - it all depends on the preferences of the hero of the occasion. Women are mainly given sweet and semi-sweet wines, as well as liqueurs.
Cognac
The most popular “gift” drink is. 
However, few people know that the name “cognac” only applies to drinks made in France, in the Charente region. Everything else is brandy.
However, few people pay attention to such trifles - such “cognacs” can also be quite good.
When choosing cognac, you should pay attention to the composition: in the production of real cognac, cognac alcohol is used and no flavorings are used. The place of manufacture must coincide with the place of bottling and the drink itself must not contain sediment.
The easiest way is to turn to the reputation of famous brands: Hennessy, Martell, Remy Martin, Courvoisier, etc. However, when purchasing products from these brands, you should also be careful - they often become objects of counterfeiting.
Pay attention to the bottle and label, and also avoid purchasing such alcohol from dubious places.
Whiskey
The second most common alcohol given to men is whiskey. Whiskey can be malt, grain, blended and corn (bourbon).
It is better to give preference to blended whiskey, but if you are choosing a gift for a person who is experienced in this drink, then you can try your luck with single malt, the taste of which is not understood by everyone.
Blended whiskey is the most common, so the range of whiskey in any store will be wider.
It is worth paying attention to well-known brands: Jameson, Jim Beam, Ballantine`s, White Horse, Jack Daniels, Chivas Regal, etc. Beware of counterfeits - whiskey from well-known brands is counterfeited even more often than cognac. Jack Daniels is especially often counterfeited due to its popularity among the people.
Vodka
A bottle of good vodka will also be a good surprise - it usually costs less than cognac or whiskey, is not inferior in quality, and vodka from well-known brands is counterfeited much less often than cognac or whiskey.
By the way, vodka can be very different - in addition to the well-known wheat vodka, there is also rice vodka (sake), grape (grappa), rye (starka) and even the famous “black vodka” from The Original Black Vodka Company.
Gift Globe bar - a unique and practical gift
Beer
Everyone knows this alcohol, but it is used very, very rarely as a gift. If you want to give someone a beer for their birthday or any other occasion, it must be a very special beer.
There is a special type of beer for which the barley was grown in zero gravity - Space Barley.
Recreating ancient Egyptian recipes has made it possible to brew the beer that Egyptians drank two thousand years ago. The beer is produced under the brand name “Tutankhamun Ale”.
Some European breweries produce beer with a strength of 40, 60 and even 70 degrees. These drinks will knock you off your feet not only because of their strength - for just 0.33 liters you will have to shell out quite a tidy sum.
Wine
Wine as a gift is suitable for both men and women. If you are not very knowledgeable about wines, ask a sommelier for help. Representatives of this noble profession, as a rule, can be found in any normal wine store.
According to popular belief, men prefer red, dry wines, while women prefer sweet, sparkling wines. However, the actual preferences of a particular person can be very different.
You can easily personalize a bottle of wine - the shape of the wine bottle allows you to stick any print on it. This is an original way to present relatively cheap wine if you don’t have enough money for expensive ones.
Liqueurs
This type of drink is usually given as a gift to women, but there are liqueurs that can also be given to men (Becherovka, Riga Balsam, Cointreau, etc.)
Women are mainly given sweet liqueurs - Baileys, Amaretto, Sambuca and others.
How and with what to serve alcohol
In addition to the gift itself, you can add various little things related to the drink that will make it much more enjoyable:
- All drinks, without exception, can be presented with containers for drinking them - just make sure that the ones you choose
Good alcohol is a gift suitable for any occasion. You can give it for New Year or a birthday, give it to your boss or close friend, bring it to a celebration or take it with you when you are going to visit. But how to pack a bottle in a unique way?
If you pay no less attention to the appearance of a gift than to its content, then a gift bag from a store is definitely not your story. Use the ideas from this article and turn ordinary wine or champagne into an original and memorable gift.
Paper
Paper is a classic and at the same time very versatile packaging method. You can wrap the bottle in bright gift paper or unusual newspaper, use pages from a magazine or comic book, and even print your own photos on the sheets. You can write wishes or draw a whole picture on plain paper, and add a beautiful ribbon or other decoration to the minimalist packaging.
And there are plenty of ways to wrap a bottle in paper. For example, you can:
- wrap it completely;
- wrap it halfway (top or bottom)
- make something like a vase, decorating it with flowers;
- use corrugated paper for a three-dimensional composition;
- cut the top half of the paper into strips and make a fringe with curls, etc.
Furoshiki technique
Furos And Ki (sometimes pronounced "furoshiki") is a Japanese fabric folding technique that is often used today for gift wrapping as an alternative to traditional paper. To wrap a bottle the way the Japanese do, all you need is a square piece of fabric of the appropriate size and color and a little practice. For packaging, use the following scheme:
- spread the cloth on the floor or table and place the bottle in the center;
- tie the two opposite ends into a knot over the cork;
- wrap the remaining two corners around the “body” of the bottle and tie a bow;
- if you are going to carry a bottle in this package, twist the ends of the first knot with a rope and tie another small knot to make something like a handle.
If you want to pack two bottles at once, use a larger square of fabric. The actions with it will be approximately the same as in the first case:
- place the bottles on the cloth so that there is a little space between them, and the necks point in opposite directions;
- fold one edge of the fabric under the bottles, then roll everything into a roll;
- Place the bottles vertically, lifting them by the neck, and tie a knot from the first diagram.
Furoshiki packaging is ready!
Leg-split
Simple and atmospheric packaging can be created using ordinary twine. You can wrap it around the whole bottle, part of it, or just the neck. The classic scheme looks like this:
- carefully remove the label from the bottle;
- lubricate the desired area of the surface with a small amount of PVA or special decoupage glue;
- carefully wrap the glued part with twine so that there are no gaps between the rows.
If desired, you can omit the use of glue: in this case, when starting packaging, secure one end of the rope with tape on the neck, wrap the bottle tightly and then, removing the tape, tie a neat knot. If you want to make the bottle brighter, buy colored twine or paint it yourself in advance.
Wooden box
Wooden bottle boxes look very authentic: it seems that the wine was delivered straight from a French vineyard, and the non-disposable packaging will become a real decoration for any bar. Of course, if you have woodworking skills, you can make such a case yourself, but, as a rule, it is easier to buy one. But engraving will help make the gift more personal: according to your order, the craftsmen will put the name of the recipient, the date or name of the holiday, and even a small congratulation on the box.
Case
Your own unnecessary items can also be used as packaging material. For example, you can make an original and cozy cover from the sleeve of a sweater or knitted cardigan. For this:
- Wash and dry the item, then place the bottle in the sleeve so that the neck is in the cuff;
- Cut off the sleeve under the bottom of the bottle, leaving a few centimeters of margin;
- The bottom of the cover can be made from thick fabric, craft paper or from the sleeve itself, pulling the edges of the cut part towards the center;
- To prevent the knitting from unraveling, hem the yarn with thread just in case;
- Decorate the top of the case at your discretion: tie it with a ribbon, add beads, buttons or a card with congratulations.
We give you alcohol,
Not simple - elite,
To celebrate the holiday
It wasn't a shame!
BEER
We know that you love beer
Drink with fish on the weekend,
And so we decided
Give you beer
Foamy fresh drink
Brought to you now
Pour it into mugs quickly,
Well, leave a reserve,
Relax, enjoy,
And drink beer with your snack.
Just don't overdo it
Save your mind!
BEER
For the beer lover
And salted fish
We give beer, and then
We are waiting for your smile.
Drink this beer if you want
If you want, eat it with a spoon.
Our mouths are already watering,
Will you treat me a little?
BEER
Who gets a can of beer?
Live happily all year!
WINE
Put your fork aside
And accept a bottle from us!
Why just one?
Don't get used to wine!
WINE
So that the blood plays in the veins,
There was a good appetite
Need more before lunch
You should have a glass of wine.
WINE
We give a personalized bottle of wine,
So that you are never alone.
So that happiness is like a full cup of wine,
You could drink to the very bottom.
WINE
Caring, and not alone,
It really annoys you.
But it solves all problems
A bottle of good wine.
A sip or two will heal you in no time.
And all the neurosis will disappear.
It will immediately become easier for you to watch
To our vanity of vanities.
WINE
Although life is already full,
There is only a percentage of happiness in her...
A bottle of cool wine
You get it as a present!
When we drink it together -
So that it doesn’t get worse either night or day!
WINE
Famous wine.
Wonderful aroma!
Pure grapes!
But not everyone has it
Rate the bouquet.
Taste is essential!
In your knowledge of wines
And there is no doubt!
WHISKEY
We give you whiskey as a gift,
So that pussies love you,
To an expensive drink
Attracted financial excess.
WINE, WHISKEY
“In vina veritas!” - believed in Ancient Rome,
When they tried to comprehend the essence of being.
We still seek truth in wine,
But we must also remember about the quality of the drink!
In bad wine or in excess of it
There is no need to seek wisdom and truth,
But over a glass of cognac or whiskey
It's nice to while away time with a friend!
When a close friend comes to see you -
Keep our gift at hand:
You will pour strong whiskey into glasses
And you will talk “for life” for a long time!
HENNESSY
We won't waste time on trifles
We'll give you Hennessy
To sit down with dignity
Have dinner in the evenings!
Ah, the aromas of southern countries!
Nectar without any complaints!
No need to go to a restaurant -
Now everything is at hand.
Oh, this fabulous cognac!
Won't give him a challenge
And the one who drinks is not a fool,
And who doesn't drink at all?
You, to drink a bottle
Blessed fire,
You can invite someone
Well, for example, me.
VODKA
Vodka is just like that
To drink on an empty stomach.
Songs to sing and dance,
Celebrate the holiday with us!
