A popular gift during the holiday season or at exclusive events is the wine and cheese basket. The combination is as old as time, and wins hearts and favors with ease. It indicates a sophisticated palate and a superior appreciation for the good things of life.

Selecting the right wine and cheese is as much a matter of personal preference as of the area from which they are produced. Usually, the amalgam from a particular location works best and saves you much time and trouble while giving. However, when it comes to experimenting with the two, there are myriad styles to adventure with.

Made with as much care and artistry as wine, cheese is a product of careful craft and ingenuity. Prepared from cow, sheep, goat or yak's milk, cheese can be fresh, poached, or hard; with a washed, flourished or natural rind, and melted or cured. Cheese can even be spiced up or enfolded in leaves for new aromas to sink in. Farm cheeses or industrial cheeses come in various flavors and blends that easily match the complexity and varieties of wine produced in the world. It is the painstakingly produced cheese from exclusive farms that are most popular (and expensive).

Red wine usually teams up with most cheeses. Fresh cream cheeses are heady with most white wines and some delicate red wines. Red and white wine work well with goat's milk cheese. Camembert, Brie and other such ripening soft cheeses thrive with fine white wines or fruity reds. Soft and semi-hard cheeses blend well with champagne or sweet sherry. Washed rind cheese integrates best with that region's red wines or stronger whites, while lush semi-aged ones resonate with ros? or local wines. Cheeses like Parmesan, Cheddar or other hard, aged cheeses brilliantly highlight red wines, sweet dessert wines and port. Blue cheeses favor vintage port, as well as strong reds and some whites.

Budgetary, seasonal and personal preferences can lead you to the right choice in cheese baskets. Standard wine and cheese baskets combine spaces for the two items, besides including wine glasses, light crockery, napkins, a cutting board and a cheese knife. Special designer baskets include the perfect wine and cheese combo, crackers and light snacks, exclusive linen and wine accessories.

Everybody is entitled to some fun and relaxation. Whether it's earthy, lively or velvety, savor the wine, nibble the cheese and pamper your taste buds. That's the idea of a wine and cheese basket - that, and to raise the pleasure element that much higher!

About the Author

Wine Baskets provides detailed information on wine baskets, wine gift baskets, wine picnic baskets, wine and cheese baskets and more. Wine Baskets is affliated with Bakery Management.

Beginner Wine and More

Discover The Best Wine Storage Racks


Being a wine lover and a bit of a collector myself, the single biggest problem I have is finding the best wine storage racks.
If you are one of those ...


Click Here to Read More About Wine ...

Featured Beginner Wine Items

Ch Ducru-Beaucaillou


"I tasted the 1996 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou on four separate occasions from bottle in January. The 1996 is long, with a deep mid-palate. It also reveals tannin in the finish. This dry red wine is remarkable. It is muscular, concentrated, and classic. Bottled in late June, 1998, this French wine exhibits a saturated ruby/purple color, as well as a knock-out nose of minerals, licorice, cassis, and an unmistakable lead pencil smell that I often associate with top vintages of Lafite-Rothschild. It is sweet and full-bodied, yet unbelievably rich with no sense of heaviness or flabbiness. The wine possesses high tannin, but it is extremely ripe, and the sweetness of the black currant, spice-tinged Cabernet Sauvignon fruit is pronounced. This profound, backward Ducru-Beaucaillou is a must purchase. It will be fascinating for readers who own the 1996 to follow the evolution of this exceptional vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2035." RP - 95 (Subject to Availability) DUCR96 DUCR96


Price: 227.99 USD



News about Beginner Wine

Learn Culinary Expertise at Sonoma Valley Foodie Tour

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:01:21 PDT
SONOMA, Calif. — Discover the secrets of exceptional food and wine during an extravagant full-immersion culinary weekend, hosted by From Farm to Table, a gourmet travel company in Sonoma, Calif. Today, they announced the kick-off of a summer series of culinary and wine tours in a region that is world-renowned for its vineyards and artisan food producers. Tour goers will not only learn what experts consider to be great wine, they will learn how to personally identify great wine and discover how

Finding A Steady Footing In Seoul, South Korea

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:26:31 PDT
Seoul is the capital and largest “city” of South Korea. Technically, Seoul is a province but classified as a Special City, and is under the direct administration of the central government. The city itself is culturally rich and diverse; at the same time, it has quickly become very metropolitan. As of 2007, the city was named the most expensive city in all of Asia, and the 3rd most expensive in the entire world after Moscow in Russia and London in UK. Planning a trip to Seoul entails a bit of

Stop in Berkeley for the Healthy Chocoholic

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 03:54:38 PDT
When your sweet tooth just won’t keep silent, indulge your love of chocolate with your desire to be healthy and check out Scharffen Berger Chocolate in Berkeley, California (914 Heinz Avenue, map it). Founded in 1996 by a wine maker and a doctor, the company is a complete manufacturer of chocolate. That is, they make their chocolate “from bean to bar” using small-batch processing with vintage European equipment. This means that Scharffen Berger performs every step of the manufacturing proce

Best Ways To See The World by Foot (Forbes)

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:22:14 PDT
Jet-setting by foot yields a rare experience. Here are eight of the best places to get started.

Indulging In The Best Wines of Napa Valley

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:11:09 PDT
The state of California definitely has a lot to offer. North of the state’s San Francisco Bay Area is Napa County, which in turn is the home of the now famous Napa Valley. Although originally, this agricultural landscape offered a variety of food crops, grapes harvested for wine production are now its main source of income. Since the 1960’s, Napa Valley has become the center for wine making in all of US. Aside from the actual wines being sold in this region, tourism on a much specified scale (w

Go now: Your planner for regional events (Knoxville News Sentinel)

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:14:26 PDT
Montpelier Wine Festival - James Madison's Montpelier will host this family-friendly event that will feature 20 award-winning Virginia wines. Cooking demonstrations will showcase Rowena Morrell, creator and publisher of "In the Kitchen" magazine, Erica Hall of Charlottesville's From Scratch Baking Co., and Melissa Close, executive chef of Barboursville Vineyard's Palladio Restaurant.


Chianti Region
Cream Sherry

Labels: Muscat Wine

&type=page">