How To Create a Wine Gourmet Basket

A wine gourmet basket is the perfect gift for all occasions, whether it's for a birthday, an anniversary, and a holiday - or even if there is no specific event being celebrated. A wine basket allows you to be creative with your gift and the details you add to it make it more personal, thus more heartwarming for the recipient.

1. To create a wine basket, think first of what kind of gourmet wine you want to give. Knowing the person you're going to give the gift to is a very helpful factor. If you're a wine aficionado, there won't be any trouble matching the right wine with the recipient. However, if you're not very familiar with the many variants of gourmet wine, you could ask your friends who are knowledgeable about it. You could also visit web sites on wine to know more. If you live in California, then visit several wineries, which won't be a problem because vineyards are now a dime a dozen in California. To play it safe, you could buy two types of wine - one red and one white.
2. After you've chosen your bottle of wine, look for the right basket. Be creative, you don't have to settle for the usual gift basket. You could use a picnic hamper, which is more spacious and would probably accommodate several wine bottles. One of my favorite wine basket alternatives is a beer pail. The metallic appearance gives the gift a cool, outlandish effect.
3. You could add wine accessories such as corkscrews, decanters and glassware. You could even put in food, which the recipient can nibble on while enjoying the wine you're going to give. Many people include cheese, a perfect wine companion, but you could also choose popcorn, chips and chocolates. If you can deliver the wine basket on the same day, you can even add fresh fruits like grapes and pears to complement the wine.
4. The person you're giving the gift to might want to know where you got the wine, so if the wine shop or vineyard you bought the bottles from have brochures, add them to the wine basket. This adds a sense of history to the gift. Or, if you really want to create the ultimate wine basket, you could even include a book on wine.
5. You will need to use tape and other art materials, such as colored cellophane and wire, to make the wine basket attractive and organized. Arrange the bottles of wine then add the accessories. To add a hint of country, you can add small dried flowers to the gift. These will give off a nice scent when the wine basket is finally opened.
6. I suggest that you use colorful ribbon around the handle of the wine basket and on its edges as well. If you have a theme, then make sure the colors you choose are consistent with the theme. You don't want to give a wine basket that doesn't appeal to the visual palate.

To cap it all off, attach a little note to the wine basket. Write a short yet endearing message on it, so that the recipient of your gift will remember you fondly every time she takes a sip of wine.