As an easy gift to give any wine lover in your life, wine coasters are both attractive and functional. They prevent any damage that moist wine glasses could do to a wooden or metal tabletop, and also serve as a neat way for guests to know where they should set their glasses down. These coasters may be purchased individually or in packs of four or six, depending on your needs, and can be given as gifts along with other wine accessories. A good gift item, for example, would be to give a set of wine glasses with corresponding coasters.

However, when you start looking at wine coasters, you may notice that you have a huge variety of different designs to choose from. For example, these may be crafted in a number of different materials. Coasters could be crafted from cork to match the wine bottles, plastic, bamboo, or glass. Pewter and other types of metals are also quite popular at the moment. Cork is environmentally friendly and wine-related, however, making it one of the top options. You should think about your own décor at home and what would best match it before you choose a set of coasters, and do the same if you are giving it as a gift to someone else.

In addition to the differences in materials that can be used for wine coasters, there are also many different designs that you might see. Some popular ones include scenes of the French or Italian countryside, where wine is often manufactured, rolling vineyards, bottles of wine, or grapes. You may choose to opt instead for more abstract designs, or minimalist coasters in black and white. Again, the best choice will depend greatly on whether you want this to be a cute gift or one that is more functional, blending into your regular decorations.

Just because a coaster is a functional item doesn't mean that you can't have some fun with it, however. Wine coasters are meant to be light-hearted in nature, and available to suit a wide range of different tastes and purposes. To get started with examining all the latest innovations in coaster design, you can look at kitchen stores, wine shops, and other catalogs that specialize in wine accessories for some ideas. You can even design your own if you are feeling particularly crafty, which is a fun project as part of a wine tasting event, for example.