How to Master the Art and Etiquette of Giving Wine as a Gift

Experts share their strategies for selecting the right bottle.

By Sara L. Schneider 05/12/2024

About three lifetimes ago—just before the pandemic—I was chasing down a wine at BevMo! when a woman stopped me in the aisle. Maybe because I looked like I knew what I was after, she asked, “Is there a chance you could help me find a bottle of good red wine? It’s for a host gift.” The enormity of her problem hit me as I calculated the rows of bottles, the long aisles and the sheer number of them. Wine can make a brilliant gift for the right people during the holidays, but which ones (the people and the wines)? How do you know what they like? And what would make it a personal gift?

We tapped two experts for their advice: Elaine Swann, who specializes in etiquette and founded the Swann School of Protocol, has been featured by the likes of The Washington Post and CNN and called “the Emily Post of the digital age” by The New York Times. (Her newest book is Let Crazy Be Crazy.) Alexandra Schrecengost, founder and CEO of the new event company Virtual with Us and WSET III certified, is in the business of curating wines for many people, for the experiences her company creates. Together they navigate the nuances of settling on great gift wines for the right candidates, including the etiquette involved. And we ran with their strategies, to recommend a few great bottles.

Who should we be thinking about on our gift lists as great candidates for a bottle of wine?

ELAINE: Anyone who considers themselves a foodie or someone who hosts often and could use a bottle to add to their collection.

ALEX: People who love food! Edible gifts are fun too, of course, but you can’t go wrong giving wine to someone who’s very enthusiastic about food. It’s a good rule of thumb to only cook with wine you’d drink and while you probably don’t want to cook with a very expensive wine, giving someone a bottle they can cook with and drink—or cook with while drinking—is thoughtful, useful and personal.

Any tricks for deciding what kind of wine would be perfect for each person?

ELAINE: The scenario: Tell them you’re making different types of meals for the week and ask them for wine-pairing advice—for lamb or steak, for instance. Beyond that, I like to pair any off-the-beaten-path wine with everyone.

ALEX: I approach it like I do a conversation—what do I know they already enjoy? If someone I know loves drinking an easy-to-find wine like Merlot, I might give them something less common, like a Grenache and explain their similarities. They learn something new about wine, maybe discover a new favorite and I show them I appreciate and share their interest. Conversely, I start by thinking about where in the world that person has enjoyed traveling to or living—a region they admire for its art, cuisine or films. A bottle Rioja would be a fantastic gift for a friend who loves Spain or a dry Riesling for a colleague who’s just binge-watched a German sci-fi thriller series. Maybe they’ll even open the bottle right then and there and share it with you.

How much is the right amount to spend on a bottle for someone?

ELAINE: Select a price that you’re comfortable with. When you purchase the wine, it should be about the gift you’re choosing as opposed to how close or not you are to someone. The bottom line is, don’t purchase wine based on the price. Sometimes people think expensive wine will be the best gift, but that’s often not the case.

ALEX: The right amount to spend on a bottle for someone is the amount you were going to spend on a tech gadget, kitchen tool, gift card or anything else you were thinking of giving that person. It’s relatively straightforward to find a rare or well-aged bottle at a specialty wine shop: Just call ahead and chat with your local merchant about the amount you’d like to spend. But keep in mind that a $40 bottle can deliver just as much enjoyment as a $200 bottle, while conveying the thought that you appreciate the recipient’s excellent taste just as well.

Are there any big mistakes you can make in choosing a bottle for someone?

ALEX: The biggest mistake I make is underestimating the classics. Everyone loves to see an iconic label on a bottle of wine they’ve gotten as a gift. These wineries are household names among wine drinkers for a multitude of good reasons and you can’t go wrong giving someone a bottle you’ve bought over and over again.

Is there any kind of wine you think makes a foolproof gift, absent any other information?

ALEX: Everyone loves Italian comfort food—spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmesan, lasagna, pasta Bolognese—so I tend to look at Italian reds that pair well with tomato-sauced dishes, with acidity that complements tomato’s acidity: Medium-bodied reds like Rosso di Montalcino, Nero D’Avola and Sangiovese (especially Chianti Classico).

When you give a bottle as a host gift at a party, should you suggest opening it on the spot?

ELAINE: No. When you bring a bottle of wine for a gathering, it is the host’s gift, and it’s up to that person to decide when to serve it.

Our Recommendations

A great culinary player for the foodie

Make it bubbly, the greatest food partner of all times (especially when it’s pink)! Champagne Leclerc Briant Brut Rosé  adds a low dosage (read very dry) and complex textures to its food-pairing skills, along with fresh and vibrant apple and pear flavours from a large percentage of Chardonnay and hints of strawberry and cranberry from Pinot Noir.

A wine for the consummate host to cellar

The Mayacamas 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder, Napa Valley is a powerful but elegant mountain gem, its great structure hung with expressive black and red fruit, florals, spice, graphite, leather and minerality.

A bottle perfect for cooking with and drinking at the same time

As W.C. Fields famously said, “I cook with wine; sometimes I even add it to the food.” With bright acidity and a combo of savory forest floor and sweeter baking-spice character, Pinot Noir is a brilliant wine to cook with. The Hilt 2018 Estate Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills hits all those notes, with a slightly wild nose of savory pine and a touch of cloves leading to vivid, juicy red fruit—cranberry, cherry, pomegranate—and spice, hanging on through a long finish. Just make sure more of this goes into your glass than whatever it is you’re cooking.

An off-the-beaten-path bottle

The Matt Morris Wine 2017 Tofanelli Vineyard Charbono Napa Valley can’t claim surprising provenance, but in Napa Charbono (a popular red in late-1800s California) is seriously off the beaten path now, with only a precious few acres still planted. This 2017 from Matt Morris (with Françoise Peschon of Araujo fame on winemaking duty) pulls you in with a foresty nose full of sage, spice, dark berry, violet aromas and crushed-rock minerality. Plush, dense and powerful, the palate layers dark cherry and raspberry with licorice and surprisingly firm tannins.

A superb Grenache to win over the Merlot lover

With lush textures approaching Merlot levels, the Belden Barns 2018 Epiphany Grenache Sonoma Mountain veers in the Rhône direction on the flavor front, with vivid strawberry and cherry wrapped in haunting florals, spice and resiny herbs (bay and mint), with an impressive underlying structure.

A welcome classic

Louis M. Martini Lot No. 1 was Napa’s pioneer in small-lot winemaking. The 2016  is a beauty—opening with complex layers of cassis, violets, graphite, espresso and savory herbs. A powerful structure is disguised in velvety tannins behind blueberry, dark cherry and spice flavors.

A lively Italian red

The Badia a Coltibuono 2016 Chianti Classico DOCG Riserva ($36), from vineyards that have been organic since 1995, is an especially good deal on a Chianti Classico Riserva. From a deep and somewhat brooding opening, savory earth, dark cherry, spice and chocolate notes emerge. Generous red fruit, crushed herbs and elegant tannins layer on a graceful palate.

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Omega Just Unveiled 9 Watches in Its New Constellation Observatory Collection

The line-up shows up a bevy of metals and colours, too, as well as two new calibres.

By Nicole Hoey 31/03/2026

Omega’s latest watch is in a universe of its own.

The Swiss watchmaker just unveiled its new Constellation Observatory Collection today, the next step in its Constellation lineage and the first two-hand hour and minute timepieces to ever earn Master Chronometer certification. And if you were paying attention to any of the dazzling watches spotted at the Oscars this year, you would’ve caught a glimpse of the new line already: Sinners star Delroy Lindo rocked one of the models on the Academy Awards red carpet, giving us a pre-release preview of the collection.

Developed at Omega’s new Laboratoire de Précision (its chronometer testing lab open to all brands), the collection houses a set of nine 39.4 mm watches. The watches underwent 25 days of scrutiny there, analysed via a new acoustic testing method that recorded every sound emitted from the timepiece to track irregularities, temperature sensitivities, and more in the name of all things precision. (Details such as water resistance and power reserve are also thoroughly examined.) This meticulous process is all in the name of snagging that Master Chronometer label, meaning that the timepiece is highly accurate and surpasses the threshold for ultra-high performance. The Constellation Observatory Collection has now changed the game, though, thanks to its lack of a seconds hand.

A watch from the Constellation Observatory Collection, with the Observatory dome on display. Omega

“Until now, precision certification has required a seconds hand,” Raynald Aeschlimann, president and CEO of OMEGA, said in a press statement. “The development of a new acoustic testing methodology has made that requirement obsolete. It is this breakthrough that has enabled us to present the Constellation Observatory, the first two-hand watch to achieve Master Chronometer certification.”

In addition to notching its place in history, the collection also debuted a new pair of movements: the Calibre 8915 and the Calibre 8914, each perched on a skeletonised rotor base. The former’s Grand Luxe iteration will appear on the 950 Platinum-Gold model in the collection, which offers up that base in 18-karat Sedna Gold alongside a Constellation medallion in 18-karat white gold with an Observatory dome done in white opal enamel surrounded by stars. The second Calibre 8915, the Luxe, will find its home on the other precious-metal models in the line, either made with the brand’s 18-karat Sedna, Moonshine, or Canopus gold seen across the case, the hand-guilloché dial, and, of course, the movement itself. (Lindo chose to rock the Moonshine Gold on Moonshine Gold iteration, priced at approximately $86,000, for Sinners‘s big night at the Oscars.) As for the Calibre 8914, it can be found in the collection’s four steel models.

 

Omega Constellation Observatory Collection
A look at a gold case-back from the collection. Omega

Each model is a callback to myriad design features on past Omega models. That two-hand dial, for one, comes from the 1948 Centenary (the brand’s first chronometer-certified automatic wristwatch), while the pie-pan dial (seen in various blue, green, and golden hues throughout the line) and that Constellation medallion caseback both appear on watches from 1952. The star adorning the space above 6 o’clock also harks back to 1950s timepieces from Omega. And to finish off the look, you can opt for alligator straps in a variety of colours, or perhaps a gold iteration to match the precious-metal models; the brick-like pattern on the 18-karat Moonshine bracelet was also inspired by Omega watches from the ’50s.

We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for any other Constellation Observatory timepieces (or any other unreleased models from the brand) at the rest of the star-studded events headed our way this year—perhaps the Met Gala?

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Best Combustion Supercar: Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider

A modern classic in the making, combining naturally aspirated power with elegant restraint to deliver performance that feels as refined as it is visceral.

By Vince Jackson 20/04/2026

In a year when carmakers of all persuasions sheepishly extended hyperbolic electric targets, it’s fitting that the monastic puritans of Maranello—who, lest we forget, won’t finally yield to the sin of battery power until October with the Elettrica—opted to make combustion their major power play.

As an uncertain future of AI omnipresence barrels towards us, the 12Cilindri—an analogue, open-topped tribute to Ferrari’s late-’60s/early-’70s grand tourer, the Daytona—represents a defiant fade into the past, a pause for breath, a fleeting return to The Good Times when nascent technology provoked excitement rather than existential dread.

Guiding this automotive nostalgia trip is, as the nomenclature suggests, a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine, generating an unceasing wave of power as it sears towards the 9,500 rpm redline with relative nonchalance. That’s because the 12Cilindri is not a mouth-foaming attack-dog. It scales performance heights with the refinement of the finest Italian works of art; its “Bumpy Road” mode facilitates comfy al fresco GT cruising, and even the imperious powerplant is mannerly at most speeds.

For all the yesteryear romance, progressive technologies and engineering, such as a world-class 8-speed transmission, advanced electronic aids and independent four-wheel steering, are baked into the deal. The 12Cilindri’s clean, stark design somehow toggles between retro and modern; and while vaguely polarising, one can’t ignore its magnetic road presence.

In terms of aesthetics, Ferrari describes the 12Cilindri as being “ready for space”; in many ways, a fantasy vehicle that transports users to another dimension is probably what the world needs right now.

The Numbers

Engine: 6.5-litre V12

Power: 610kW

Torque: 678 Nm

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto

0-100 km/h: 2.95 seconds

Top speed: 340 km/h

Price: From $886,800

Photography by SONDR.
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Inside Loro Piana’s First Sydney Boutique

A first Australian address brings the Italian house’s textile-led approach to retail full circle.

By Horacio Silva 26/03/2026

On the fourth floor of Westfield Sydney, near the Castlereagh and Market Street entrance—in the space formerly occupied by Chanel—Loro Piana has opened its first Australian boutique. It is a significant address change for that corner of the mall, and a meaningful one for the Italian house, which has sourced Australian merino wool for decades but until now had no retail presence here.

The facade is understated—creamy, tactile, more about texture than theatre. Inside, the store unfolds across a single, expansive level divided into distinct men’s and women’s wings. The separation is clear without being heavy-handed: womenswear leads from soft accessories and leather goods into ready-to-wear, while menswear occupies its own assured territory, with tailoring and outerwear given proper breathing room. Footwear (supple loafers, luxurious slides, pared-back sneakers) is particularly strong, and the sunglasses are a quiet standout: mineral-toned frames with a disciplined elegance that feels entirely of the house.

That same restraint carries into the interiors, where the surfaces do much of the talking. Walls are wrapped in the company’s own linen and cashmere; carpets are custom, dense underfoot, softening the acoustics and the pace. Oak and carabottino wood add warmth without fuss; marble accents introduce a cool counterpoint. The effect is a composed space calibrated around material, proportion and restraint.

The Spring 2026 collection now in store underscores that sensibility. Silhouettes are elongated and fluid; cashmere, silk and featherweight merino move in sandy neutrals, creams and muddied earth tones, with flashes of marigold and pale turquoise breaking the calm. Tailoring is softly structured and projects confidence without aggression. Leather goods arrive in buttery skins that feel almost pre-lived, as though time has already worked its magic.

What distinguishes Loro Piana, particularly in a market that has grown noisier by the season, is its refusal to perform luxury in an obvious register. There are no oversized insignias telegraphing allegiance. Instead, the status is encoded in fibre count, in hand-feel, in how a coat hangs from the shoulder. It assumes the wearer knows and, crucially, does not need to announce it.

Sydney’s luxury landscape has matured in recent years; global houses no longer test the waters but commit to them. Yet Loro Piana’s arrival feels different. It is not trend-driven expansion but material logic. For a country whose sheep stations have long contributed to the house’s fabric story, this boutique reads almost as a thank-you note written in cashmere.

 

Photography: Courtesy of Loro Piana.

 

 

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This Stylish, Water-Resistant Dopp Kit Might Be the Last One You Ever Buy

Patricks’s limited-edition wash bag is designed to keep liquids in and out, so it can come along wherever your travels take you.

By Justin Fenner 11/03/2026

If all you’re going to do is look at it, a leather Dopp kit from a fashion house is a fine choice. But if you take travelling seriously—and do it often, for business, pleasure, or both—such a bag will inevitably end up blemished with droplets of water or stained by errant flecks of toothpaste. Get stuck with a cavalier team of baggage handlers, and it can even get soaked in your favourite fragrance or anti-ageing serum.

But Patricks, the high-performance Australian grooming brand stocked in Harrods and Bergdorf Goodman, has a solution. Its limited-edition bathroom bag, called BB1, is purpose-built to protect everything inside and out. Conceived by industrial designer George Cunningham with brand founder Patrick Kidd, the cuboid design is executed in a water-resistant recycled nylon you can rinse clean. It’s lined with a thin layer of shock-absorbing foam to safeguard your products, but if a bottle somehow gets cracked in transit, the two-way water-resistant zippers and sealed seams (which keep liquids from seeping in or out) ensure that whatever leaks won’t ruin your cashmere. Inside, two dual-sided zippered compartments are ideally sized to fit toothbrushes, razors, and other small essentials.

And though its clean lines and rugged construction make it undeniably masculine, its greatest feature is borrowed from women’s makeup bags. Like the best of these, BB1 unzips to lie flat, giving you unobstructed access to everything inside. Well, you and the 999 other gentlemen who move fast enough to snag one. $289

Courtesy of Patricks

1. Hanging Loop 

The G-hook system isn’t just a stylish handle: You can also use it to hang the bag from a hook or secure it to your carry-on.

2. Two-Way Zipper

The closures are water-resistant in both directions, meaning liquids won’t get in or out.

3. Fold-flat Construction

BB1 opens to 180 degrees, letting you scan its 4.2-litre capacity at a quick glance.

4. Technical-Fabric Shell

The durable recycled-nylon is easy to maintain and woven to survive splashes and leaks from your go-to products.

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You Can Now Place Bets on the Future Prices of Rolex Models

And which models will get discontinued next, thanks to a new collaboration between Kalshi and Bezel.

By Nicole Hoey 11/03/2026

You can bet on pretty much anything these days, from when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will get married to who will be the next James Bond—and now that includes the Rollies on your wrist, or on your wishlist.

Prediction market platform Kalshi, regulated in the U.S., and luxe watch marketplace Bezel have teamed up on a new platform called Watch Futures that allows users to splash down cash on where they think the prices of a particular luxe timepiece are going, whether that’s a Rolex Submariner or a coveted Patek Philippe, Time & Tide reported.

You can also place a wager on which models might be discontinued, as well as any future launches from the top watchmakers on the new platform; with Watches and Wonders coming up, it’s certainly a well-timed launch that could see a lot of activity as a slew of new releases are announced at the event.

Watch Futures is all based on Beztimate, Bezel’s system (once used only internally) to help it accurately calculate the market price of a timepiece. It draws data from real-time transactions, live bids, verified sales, and other market offers to spawn its own series of independent valuation models to establish a watch’s value. From there, it’s up to bettors to place their wagers, and then the platform will showcase any price fluctuations or other updates as time goes on.

This new platform could have some pretty large implications for the watch industry.  As any horological savant would know, the internet and collectors alike are constantly chattering about which models are on the way out or when a certain timepiece of the moment’s time in the limelight will fade, of course, having a large impact on the prices of said model. And now, a Watch Futures user can have a direct stake in where a model is headed—and if they own said timepiece, it can be a protection from dwindling values on the marketplace, say, if a user places a bet on their model losing value and that actually comes to fruition.

To see Watch Futures in real time (and scope out how some pieces in your collection are faring), you can use the Kalshi app or its website.

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