The problem with buying for a wine lover isn't finding wine things. It's that they already own the wine things. Three corkscrews in a drawer, a decanter they use twice a year, and a set of glasses someone else gave them. What follows is a short list of things they almost certainly don't have — starting with the one most people have never seen work.
Start here: the opener that doesn't use a corkscrew
Every corkscrew ever made does the same thing. It drives a screw into the cork and pulls. Waiter's friends, winged levers, rabbits, electrics — all variations on an auger and force. Which is why old corks crumble, dry corks split, and the last inch is always a fight.
In 1961 a machinist in Northern California asked whether the cork had to come out that way at all. His answer was to stop pulling: put a hollow needle through the cork, introduce a small amount of food-safe inert gas underneath it, and let the pressure lift the cork out whole. He patented it in 1964. His son founded Cork Pops in Novato in 1989 and spent thirty years refining it across another six patents.
That's the gift. Not "a nicer corkscrew" — a different idea about how a bottle opens, from a family that's been making it for sixty years, most of which your recipient has never heard of.
What to buy: the Cork Pops Starter Set ($45) — the Legacy opener with two cartridges, which is the version to give, because an opener without refills is a gift that runs out. The Legacy on its own is $34.50.
One cartridge opens roughly 60 to 80 bottles. And the cartridges have never been redesigned out of compatibility — an opener bought decades ago takes the one sold today, which tells you something about how the company thinks.
For the one who hosts
Different person, different problem: they don't need better wine tools, they need the evening to go well.
Whirlwind Spinning Cocktail Glasses — $62
They spin. Set one down, touch it, and it turns on its weighted base without tipping. The slow rotation blends the drink and opens up the aroma, so an old fashioned or a negroni tastes rounder from the first sip. Four glasses, four different cuts — so nobody loses track of which is theirs, which is the actual problem at a dinner party. See them.
Ice Breaker 4-Martini Shaker — $60
Built into the strainer cap is a stainless breaker bar that smashes the ice against the walls as you shake. The drink chills in seconds and comes out properly, bitingly cold. It holds 32 oz — four martinis, not two — so one shake serves the table, and you twist the top to pour instead of prising a lid off with cold wet hands. Have a look.
Electric Cocktail Smoker — $54
For the one who's been posting smoked old fashioneds. No torch, no open flame, no scorched board — load the chips, press the button. Comes with oak, hickory, beech, apple, pear and cherry, which matters more than people expect: oak on whiskey reinforces what's already in the barrel, apple suits lighter spirits. We wrote the guide to using one if you want to slip it in the box.
Under $30, and not filler
- Copper Martini Glass — $28. Solid copper, stays cold, looks like something from a much older bar.
- Stainless Steel Cubes — $24.50. Chill without dilution. The right gift for someone particular about whiskey.
- VinOair Aerator — $20. Aerates as you pour. No decanter to wash, which is why decanters sit in cupboards.
- vinOice Wine Chiller — $30. For the white-wine drinker who opens a bottle that isn't cold enough yet.
The stocking-stuffer tier
All of these are $7 to $15, and all of them are better than another candle.
- Refill cartridges — $15 for two (or six for $38.99). The correct gift for anyone who already owns a Cork Pops, and the one they never think to buy for themselves.
- Foil cutters — $7–$8. Grapes, fish, palm tree, hot lips. Small, cheap, genuinely used every time a bottle is opened.
- Bar towels — $7. Thirty-odd designs and most of them are jokes. "Drinking Our Children's Inheritance" does a lot of work in a stocking.
How to pick, if you're stuck
They drink wine most nights → the Starter Set. It gets used daily and it's the one wine thing they don't own.
They host → Whirlwind glasses or the Ice Breaker shaker. Both are things guests pick up and ask about, which is what a host actually wants.
They're into cocktails → the smoker.
You don't know them that well → foil cutter and a bar towel, under $15 together, and neither reads as a panic purchase.
They already own a Cork Pops → refills. Every time. Nobody buys their own.
Frequently asked questions
What do you get a wine lover who has everything?
Something that isn't another corkscrew or another set of glasses. A Cork Pops opener works on a different principle entirely — a needle and inert gas rather than a screw and force — so it's the rare wine gift a serious wine drinker probably doesn't already own. The Starter Set at $45 includes cartridges, which matters, because an opener without refills stops working.
Is a wine opener a good gift?
Only if it's not a corkscrew they already have three of. An air-pressure opener is a good gift because it does something visibly different — the cork lifts out whole, without a screw — and because most people have never seen one work.
What's a good wine gift under $30?
The Original Cork Pops opener ($28.50), a copper martini glass ($28), stainless steel chilling cubes ($24.50) or a VinOair aerator ($20). For under $15, refill cartridges and foil cutters.
What do you buy someone who already owns a Cork Pops?
Refill cartridges — $15 for two, $38.99 for six. Each cartridge opens 60–80 bottles, and they fit every Cork Pops model ever made, including openers decades old.
Shop the collection: Gifts for Wine Lovers, and for December, Christmas Gifts for Wine Lovers.