Wine Gifts for Each Person on Your List

It’s that time of year again, the annual hunt for the perfect gift for your friends and family. A lot of folks share our opinion that a good bottle of wine is a great gift option, but it can be hard to pick out a winner if you’re not sure quite what they like. Fortunately for you as the gifter, most wine drinkers stick with a certain style of wine. The Chardonnay Die-HardWe all know and love one of these people who hear the word wine and immediately looks for the Chardonnay bottle. Since Chardonnay is so versatile, picking the right bottle for the swear-by-steel-aged friend or friend who wants ‘just a little oak’. We have a hard time picking too – which is why we currently have 3 different style of Chardonnay with more coming!

The Stainless Steel Chardonnay is one of our favorites for a clean, crisp wine with lots of fruit. Or for the perfect medium bodied chardonnay, try the Acte 12 for that kiss of oak and creaminess but still with plenty of bright fruit. 

If you are dying to get them to try something new, the Wessex Hundred Viognier is full bodied and creamy with wonderful tropical fruit notes and just a hint of floral character. If they try it and don’t like it, blame us!

The Virginia Wine Enthusiast

This is the person who is just as excited about Virginia wine as we are! With regional variances from here in Hampton Roads to Loudon County to the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia has a vast variety of wines that are as unique as the state itself.

Petit Manseng is another exciting varietal that is becoming a major player in Virginia Wine. Haven’t heard of it? It’s a full-bodied white grape with bright fresh acidity and stone fruit notes that is naturally humidity resistant and grows easily here in the Commonwealth.

Cabernet Franc has been a constant grape in Virginia with approachable fruit character and that signature peppery finish we love. Our Virginia Trianon is a very smooth Cabernet Franc that is great for aging – in bottle or in your stomach!

For a full-bodied, intense wine with aging potential, try the Limited Release Virginia Tannat.

The Adventurous Drinker Know someone who loves to try wines most haven’t heard of? Arneis is a very light-bodied varietal originally from Piedmont and known as the ‘little rascal’. Bright acidity on the nose with notes of apple, pear, and lemon, this is an easy drinking light wine for when you’re finished with all those heavy holiday dishes.

Bright floral character and citrus dominate the Traminette. It smells sweet on the nose, but don’t let that fool you, this one is dryer than most wines made from its parent grape, Gewürztraminer.

The Foodie

The foodie is that friend who tries a new wine and immediately starts planning their meals around it to have the perfect complimentary pairing. We’re guilty doing that too, especially with some of our super food friendly wines. The Barrel Aged Claret is an incredibly smooth blend of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon with a soft finish that is perfect to pair with a huge variety of foods.

Albarino is a fun zesty Spanish varietal with bright acidity that loves to be paired with seafood dishes and works well with spice.

The Crowd Pleaser

Every family has one of these people: constantly thinking about what to bring to the next party or serve at the next dinner they’re hosting. It can be tricky to plan what will please even picky palates, but it’s doable. Enter the following wines. It’s nearly impossible to talk about Williamsburg Winery wines without the Governor’s White. For most folks, all they need to hear is Riesling and they’re in. Not too sweet or too dry and with great fresh fruit character, this is perfect for most palates (and is easy to pair with!).

Looking for something just a little bit sweet? The Midsummer Night’s White is less sweet than others in this section but surprises most Sweeties with it’s bright fruit and floral notes that make it seem sweeter than it is.

Merlot is a great grape that should be at every party for a reason – everyone knows and loves a good merlot. The Wessex Hundred Merlot is a classic example, with great cherry notes and just enough oak, it’s begging to be at the Crowd Pleaser’s next event.

Every Crowd Pleaser should have a fruity, light bodied red wine in their repertoire. The Two Shilling Red is a very fruit forward, easy drinking red wine with soft tannins that is sure to please everyone from the Cab drinkers to the wine newbies.

The Cab Guy

The same way everyone knows a chardonnay die hard, Cabernet (Sauvignon in most of the world, but Franc in VA, more often than not) has also developed a devoted following for good reason.

Cabernet Sauvignon is a tough one to grow well in Virginia, so we have a California partner we get it from and make an approachable one in stainless steel, keeping it truerer to what the grape would be like here in the Commonwealth. The Arundell Cabernet Sauvignon has lots of berry notes right on the nose and finishes softly with a cocoa note.

The Gabriel Archer Reserve is a blend of all 5 Bordeaux varietals that is bold and balanced all at once with that wonderful earthy finish that the Cab Guy is looking for. This is a wine with great aging ability, or can bit drunk sooner for the impatient Cab Guy.

For an elegant bold wine with lots of nuances, look no further than the Adagio. The current vintage is comprised of mostly Petit Verdot (the Cabernet Sauvignon of the East Coast) with a little Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Tannat.

The “Sweetie”

Got someone on your list with a strong sweet tooth? Finding good sweet wines that are good standalone wines isn’t as hard as it seems.

Moscato is the trigger word that makes every sweet wine lover’s ears perk up. For our Petite Fleur, we blended Moscato with Vidal Blanc for a well-balanced dessert wine great peach and apricot character.

Like Raspberries? Imagine raspberry juice meets red wine with all the sweetness and tartness of raspberries. The Vin Licoreux de Framboise (or Raspberry Dessert Wine for those who prefer the English pronunciation) is as good as you’re imagining and can also be mixed with a sparkling wine or just by itself.

The Two is Better than One Pyment lies somewhere between a mead and a dessert wine. The Traminette grape gives this wine a bright floral nose while the honey adds sweetness and body and hints of citrus and warming spices.