It is never easy buying wine as a gift, because the enjoyment of wine is such a subjective thing. Having said that, there are certain vintages in all countries which indicate a good or bad year, and on the whole, if you buy what is regarded to be a half decent bottle of wine from a country which is thought to have had a strong year, you will end up with an excellent bottle of wine.
This is an excellent principle to follow if you are buying a bottle of wine as a gift. All you really need to do is to find out the sort of wine that the recipient of the gift likes, do a bit of research on the decent vintages of the country of origin for the wines that they like, and then find a suitable wine! It really is that easy!
Recent websites that have shot up over the last few years will also aid you in making this purchase. You should be able to find wine sites which allow you to search by vintage, and by country of origin, which will really narrow things down for you. Once you have done this, you can just use your own budget to guide you. These sites also stock an enormous amount of wine, so you won’t be limited in the way that you would be in a traditional wine shop. Walk into a high street wine merchants, and ask for a bottle of 1995 Mouton and they will probably laugh you out of the shop, but take this tack on the online store and you will probably have several different size options to choose from!