Buying guide
Wine Making Gifts for Every Level
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The best gift for a home winemaker is the piece of gear they keep borrowing, improvising or putting off. Wine making is a hobby of small steps: a first kit, then better ways to measure, move and bottle the wine, then bigger batches and fresh fruit. This guide follows the same path, from small gifts that fit any winemaker to the equipment that changes how an experienced one works.
Every product here was chosen the same way as in our other guides: we looked at what each listing says is included and picked, in each category, the option that the most buyers have reviewed. We have not used these items ourselves, so the notes stick to what the manufacturers list.
Not sure where they are? Ask what they used for their last bottling, or look at their setup. A jug and an airlock means a beginner; a carboy, a corker and stacks of bottles means someone ready for the upgrades further down.
Small Gifts and Stocking Stuffers
Small, useful tools that any winemaker, new or experienced, can always use another of. These also make good add-ons to a bigger gift.
Small gifts for any winemaker
Tools that fit in a stocking and get used on every batch.
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1Hydrometer kit
Brewer's Elite Hydrometer and Plastic Test Jar
A triple-scale hydrometer (specific gravity, potential alcohol and Brix) with a 250 ml plastic test jar, hard case and cloth. It tells a winemaker when fermentation is done and how strong the wine is.
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2Mini auto-siphon
Fermtech Auto-Siphon Mini with 6 ft of tubing
A 14-inch siphon that starts with one pump and fits openings as small as 1 inch, sized for 1-gallon jugs. Racking without it means sucking on a tube.
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3Wine thief
A 19-inch clear acrylic sampler for drawing wine out of a carboy or barrel to taste it or to fill a hydrometer test jar.
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4Fermentation thermometers
Adhesive Strip Thermometers, 10-pack
Stick-on strips that read from 39 to 97 °F on the outside of a carboy, jar or bucket, so the winemaker can see fermentation temperature at a glance.
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5Shrink capsules
Blulu PVC Heat Shrink Capsules, 200 pieces
200 capsules in black, red, gold and silver that shrink over the cork with hot air or boiling water, for bottles that look finished. They fit bottle necks under 30 mm.
Starter Gifts for Someone Who Wants to Make Wine
For a friend who keeps saying they would like to try, a 1-gallon kit is the right size: one gallon makes about five bottles, so mistakes are small and the first wine is ready in weeks rather than months. All of these kits bring the equipment; the recipient adds the fruit, juice or honey.
Starter kits
Pick by what they like to drink: fruit wine, mead or hard cider.
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1Fruit wine kit
Master Vintner Fresh Harvest 1 Gallon Fruit Wine Kit
Our pick for a first fruit wine. The listing includes a 2-gallon fermenter, a 1-gallon jug, airlock, straining bag, racking cane and tubing, a hydrometer, a recipe handbook and the additives and yeast for 15 one-gallon batches. Fruit and bottles are not included.
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2Fruit wine kit with siphon
Home Brew Ohio Upgraded 1 Gallon Wine from Fruit Kit
A 1-gallon wine from fruit kit with an instruction and recipe book and a mini auto-siphon in the box. The listing suggests adding a test jar for a hydrometer.
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3Mead kit
Craft A Brew Mead Making Kit (1 Gallon)
Our top mead kit: glass carboy, airlock and stopper, racking cane and tubing, yeast, nutrient, sanitizer and a mead guide. The recipient adds the honey.
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4Hard cider kit
Craft A Brew Hard Cider Kit (1 Gallon)
For someone who prefers cider to wine: the equipment and supplies for a gallon of dry sparkling cider, with a cider guide and recipe variations. The recipient adds the juice.
Want to wrap the first batch with the kit? Our guides to making wine from fruit, making mead and making hard cider walk through each one step by step, and our comparison of wine making kits covers the rest of the field.
Upgrade Gifts for a Home Winemaker
Once someone has a batch or two behind them, the gaps show up at the same places: corking bottles by hand, guessing sugar levels in fruit, and moving from 1-gallon jugs to full-size batches. These gifts close those gaps.
Upgrades
Better bottling, faster measuring and bigger batches.
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1Double lever corker
FastRack Double Lever Corker with 20 Corks
A double lever corker made in Portugal that takes #7, #8 and #9 corks, with 20 corks in the box. Much easier than pushing corks in by hand.
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2Refractometer
aichose Brix Refractometer with ATC
Reads 0 to 32 % Brix and 1.000 to 1.120 specific gravity from a few drops, with automatic temperature compensation. Ideal for checking the sugar in fruit before buying or picking.
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36 gallon glass carboy
FastRack Italian 6 Gallon Glass Carboy
The step up from 1-gallon jugs: a 6-gallon Italian glass carboy that takes a #7 stopper (sold separately). Our top pick in the carboy guide.
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46 gallon equipment kit
Master Vintner Wine Making Starter Kit (6 gallons)
Our Editor's Choice among equipment kits: tools for fermenting, transferring, bottling and cleaning a 6-gallon batch, compatible with wine recipe kits or your own juice.
Gifts for the Winemaker Who Has Everything
Experienced home winemakers bottle by the case and often work with fresh fruit. The gifts that impress them are the pieces of equipment they would not buy for themselves.
For experienced winemakers
Equipment for bottling by the case and working with fresh fruit.
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1Floor corker
FastRack Italian Floor Wine Corker
A floor-standing corker with an adjustable plunger and grip handle, our top pick for bottling a full batch. It corks bottle after bottle with one pull.
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2Fruit and wine press
EJWOX 4.75 Gallon Fruit and Wine Press
Our Editor's Choice press: a solid beech basket on a heavy-duty stand with a pour spout, for pressing grapes, apples and berries.
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3Wine ingredient kit
Wild Grapes Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Kit
Wine base, yeast, fining agents and 30 labels for up to 6 gallons, about 30 bottles. A good gift for someone who already owns 6-gallon equipment.
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4Winemaking book
From Vines to Wines, 5th Edition
Jeff Cox's guide to growing grapes and making wine from them, the most-reviewed winemaking book in our search that Amazon sells and ships itself. A good fit for someone who wants to move from kits to fresh fruit.
How to Choose a Wine Making Gift
Match the Batch Size
Most gear is sized either for 1-gallon batches or for 5 to 6 gallons. A mini auto-siphon fits a 1-gallon jug but is too short for a 6-gallon carboy, and a 6-gallon equipment kit is too much for someone making a gallon at a time. If you cannot ask, size-neutral gifts such as a hydrometer, a refractometer, a corker or a thermometer are the safest choices.
Equipment Lasts, Ingredients Run Out
Hardware is used for years; yeast, additives and ingredient kits are used once. For a lasting gift choose equipment. For a winemaker who already owns everything, an ingredient kit or a fresh supply of corks and capsules is welcome every season.
Think About Bottling
Bottling is where beginners struggle most and where better gear helps most. A corker, corks and shrink capsules make a homemade bottle look like a gift in its own right, and our guide to bottling and corking wine explains how each corker works.