Wine gift basket

by Alfie

With the holidays coming, consider a wine gift basket for a perfect hostess gift!

Just as we're getting back into the school year routine, leaving summer and vacations behind, the onset of fall and crisp nights signal Halloween and costumes, the now-official beginning of the holiday season. While the kids are reaching the bottom of the trick or treat basket, we're thinking about Thanksgiving and the holidays. It's time to eat, drink and be merry, from Thanksgiving right on through to New Year's. When we attend parties during this festive season, tradition requires guests bring a small hostess gift to show their pleasure at being invited. With all we have to do during this busy time of year, a simple hostess gift may leave us stumped for ideas. A wine gift basket is a simple and thoughtful gift that doesn't take much time to put together.

Vintners and wine merchants are well prepared for the holiday season, knowing that Americans are becoming more familiar with the fine wine market. You'll find shops both locally and online, with lovely ready made wine gift baskets, bedecked and beribboned to a state of finery which will pass the most persnickety of party hosts' scrutiny.

If you feel more comfortable talking in person with a knowledgeable wine merchant, you'll find they are more than willing to educate you on some of the finer points of wine. If you're familiar with your recipient's taste in food, you can get a recommendation on what type of wine goes well with, for example, fish or poultry. If you don't know your host well, a dessert wine is a good choice. Your wine shop expert can make a custom wine gift basket for you on the spot.

Websites which sell wine also yield plenty of information about what they're selling. Articles, message boards, newsletters, wine trivia and the basic FAQs page can lead you to just the perfect choice. These sites often offer to customize your wine gift basket with whatever wine you desire, with a number of decorative themes to best suit the occasion.

If you're bringing a wine you intend your host to save for a special tasting, you can give subtle clues, such as wrapping the wine bottle in gold tissue or colored cellophane, before laying the bottle in the wine gift basket. Laying two nice wineglasses inside the basket, on top of the wine bottle, and then wrapping the entire package in cellophane, is a pretty good indication that it's a gift and that it's not supposed to be part of dinner!

This wine gift idea works for everyone except those who do not drink any alcoholic beverages. Even people who don't know much about wine are thrilled with this type of gift. If you choose a fine bottle of wine, the difference between what's referred to as 'table wine' and a well-balanced, complex wine is immediately apparent. True wine connoisseurs are not as common as one might think, yet there are plenty of people who would like to learn more about wine and tasting.

In this case, a CD or small book, giving an introduction to wine tasting might be a nice addition to your wine gift basket. If your recipient is knowledgeable on wines, perhaps a classy designer wine opener would be the thing.

This versatile gift idea may prove so useful, by New Year's you'll be somewhat of a wine expert yourself!