Wine Gift Ideas

Back in 1995 Maria and I decided to begin homemade wine making, we weren’t looking for anything special, just a way to enjoy our passion on a budget and possibly learn a few things in the process. We obviously started out small, with a few failed attempts but determination in our hearts.

Within the year we had a system down pat, we were pumping out about 25 bottles a month, this came with a huge financial loss to us. Typically those who brew homemade wine don’t typically do it in this quantity. We didn’t care, we loved it (still do)  and had enough disposable income to make ends meet.

Wine Gift Ideas

Fast forward to 2002, Maria and I were still brewing wine at home, not nearly in the quantities we were before but our process was very much refined. We had our own recipes that we had tested and gifted to friends and family for feedback.

Around April of 2002 Maria ran into a mutual friend of ours at the supermarket and being the social butterfly that she is struck up a conversation, turned out this friend (conveniently also named Maria) was getting married the following weekend and said she would be”Over the moon.” (seriously, thats a quote) if we could make it.

We couldn’t turn down the invitation but still not being the most well off couple we had to come up with something as a gift, you guessed it, we grabbed some of our aged cherry red wine and cheese baskets and headed over to the wedding.

After presenting Maria with our personal but not overly sentimental wine gift ideas and an assortment of cheeses she decided it being a party there was only one thing to do with a few bottles of wine, drink ‘em.

Thats when everything changed, everyone was in love with our creation, which was an astounding compliment considering how close we were to Napa Valley, our cherry red wine was what they wanted to drink. It seemed like everyone wanted some but no one could get enough.

There were over 800 people at this wedding and when the first person asked to order a few bottles the rest weren’t far behind.

We weren’t ready for this at all, this was a hobby, not a career. We didnt even have a price. I believe my response to the first person that asked me “how much for a bottle?” was exactly this “uhhhhhh…” (also a quote). Luckily I had Maria to blurt out $45.

Even with this moderately high price for a “no name” wine they couldn’t get enough. At the end of the night we had 127 orders, each for minimum 1 bottle, our highest order being 10 bottles.

At the end of the night we were busy going through our stock pile of wine, pulling out $9385 worth of cherry wine for 127 new and loyal customers.

It took us a little while to complete all the orders, some people backed out due to our back log but we kept over 120 of those customers, many of whom are still our customers today.

Moral of the story? I’m not really sure either but I enjoyed telling it and I hope you enjoyed reading it. I guess the moral is wine gift ideas work for any occasion.

Until next time.

Wine Gift Ideas

Delivering Our Orders with Custom Wine Labels and a Smile.