I don't drink but wanted to get a gift card for someone to an online wine seller. How much is a good bottle of wine? Would $150 be enough to get something nice?

I don't want to pick anything, who knows what kind they like, I just want them to be able to pick something nice

That's plenty

More than enough. I agree, a good bottle can be found for $50 or less.

What's good?

To me, everyday white is about $10-15, red is probably $15-20.

A good white, like chardonnay from Grigch is about $40-80 depending on vintage.

A good red, for me, will generally run about the same but I'm partial to Pinot Noir or Zin over Cabernet. A 'good' cabernet may be $80-120 for me.

97% of the wine sold in the US is <$12.

I’ve had expensive wine and wouldn’t choose it over some $5 bottles I’ve had.

You can get some good wine for a very reasonable price. You can also spend big bucks for mediocre wine.

I was at a business dinner with some execs from my company. They all made serious $$ and were talking wine and how much they spent on various bottles.

I finally chimed in and said I was happy with the “Three Buck Chuck” wine I got at Trader Joes. After a pause, one of the execs “admitted” that he drank it too.

Never tried the $3 Chuck.

I haven't tried this in awhile (probably at least 15 years) but Delicato had a $5 Cab that was better than anything else I've tasted under $100 (and more). Not sure what their prices are and how they taste now.

I liked it better when it was two buck Chuck...

A lot would depend on the pallet and experience of the one drinking it.
A nice Italian Brunello di Montalcino can be had in the sixty to hundred dollar range.
A client and friend who has an Italian restaurant gave me a bottle of Renieri that was fabulous ~ it was selling about $75 at the time - and of course the restaurant sells it for double.
It was fabulous.
There is a point that unless you are well informed on taste that it doesn't make much difference.
Personally I don't like to buy many wines under $20 but some are not bad.
When I want to splurge I will get some of the Brunello.

A $150 gift card would make a very nice gift for a wine aficionado.

My wife prides herself on finding wines she likes for under $10/bottle. Some of these, I like OK too, but most of them are swill. I will admit to being a little bit of a wine snob and particular about what I like. The key take-away is that it is a matter of personal taste. The price of a bottle of wine bears very little correlation to its "quality," but has more to do with the reputation of the vintner and where they are positioning themselves in the market. I wish I could assure you that paying $XXX for a bottle will guarantee drinkability, but I have had wines priced far more than your target that I could barely pour down my gullet.

The etiquette of gifting wine implies that you have discovered something special, and want to share the experience, a gift card doesn't do this. Find out what style of wine they like, buy two bottles of several vintages, try them, you will soon know which of the extra bottles you want to share with your friends. Meanwhile, you'll have the rest of the bottles for yourself. Whoops, I see "don't drink" so disregard this, or find a friend who is willing to do the research for you.

The best stuff comes in a cardboard box with a screw top.

$150 will buy quite a nice bottle, or even two.

Bottles with the very highest of reputations will cost multiples of that, but $150 will allow almost anyone to get something that is very good.

I consulted two wine club members ,both in their 60's.

They both said that if you don't know what you are doing.

They would much rather have four or five bottles of $15.00 - $20.00 wine than an iffy very expensive bottle of wine.

"What’s the word? Thunderbird. How’s it sold? Good and cold. What’s the jive? Bird’s alive. What’s the price? Thirty twice.”

I enjoy red wine myself.

$50 for a nice bottle is more than gracious.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Underdog,

And don’t forget about Hiney Wine

Nothing better than a cold Hiney at the end of a long hard day at work.

And if you don't finish the bottle, you can stuff a cork in your Hiney.

$150 is extremely generous.

Doing a simple search at wine.com for 94+ point (aka excellent) cabernet sauvignon, one could buy 1 to 3 bottles of wine.

I really enjoy Joel Gott and it is only $12 a bottle. I have had $300 a bottle wine and yeah they are really good, but for the price I like Joel Gott.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
A $150 gift card would make a very nice gift for a wine aficionado.

That's the ticket. They may have an amazing favorite that's $30. With that, they can thank you five times!