Have a hard-to-buy-for person on your holiday list? That’s usually me. You could f ll their cellar with bottles from our Top 100 Wineries of 2018, or help them step up their at-home bar game with one of our Top Spirits. But if you want to go outside the bottle, here is a bonus list of useful and delicious gifts.
Knockout Cocktail
Have A Cow


Support local farmers who keep sustainable, small-batch cheesemaking alive with Especially Puglia’s Adopt a Cow program. With your adoption certificate, you’ll receive a Caciocavallo cheese made from the milk of your herd of rare Podolica cows. Choose a pasture and read up on the farmer and the cheese’s flavor profile; then pick between a half or whole round, aged either three or six months. While you’re at it, adopt an olive tree. When your three-liter tin of single-harvest extra-virgin oil arrives along with a ceramic decanting bottle made by Pugliese artisans, slice a rosemary ciabatta in half and make a tapenade of roughly chopped capers and olives and a glug of oil. Spread it on half the loaf and layer with roasted red peppers, prosciutto and slices of the Caciocavallo.
Holiday Wrapping in the Bag
Americans generate an additional seven million pounds of waste between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, just in wrapping and packing materials. This season, when you are giving the best gift (wine), dress the bottles in reusable bags. Adorned with chalk board tags, these bags are made from recycled linen with a water-resistant coating, so you don’t need to sweat the sweat from that pre-chilled bottle of Champagne you are bringing to the party.
Tonic Naturally
If a G&T is your drink of choice, you might consider making your own tonic. The DIY Tonic Water Kit contains enough cinchona, citric acid, lemongrass, cubeb pepper and Jamaican allspice to make about 45 drinks. All you need is sugar, water, some citrus and a little bit of time to create a tonic that will impress all of your guests.
Straws for a Cause
This story was featured in W&S Winter 2018.
Deanna Gonnella, is a graduate of NYC’s International Culinary Center’s Classic Culinary Arts program, a private chef and our in-house expert on all things culinary. She’s also worked the floor as a sommelier, and advised buyers at Vintry Fine Wines in Manhattan, so she knows a thing or two about wine.
This story appears in the print issue of Winter 2018.
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