Eat*Drink*Cleveland

Holiday Gifting - Shop Local, Shop American: Wine Lovers

If you have a wine lover on your gift list, there are endless ways to make them happy. The most obvious way is a bottle of wine.

photo from South River Facebook page

My favorite local winery is South River in Geneva. For red wine lovers, the Trinity is full of flavor but smooth. White wine lovers will enjoy the Riesling Reserve. Their ice wine is delicious too.

If your friends like to drink their wine poolside or on picnics these polycarbonate wine glasses will have them drinking in style without worrying about broken glass. Colored, monogrammed and stemless versions are also available.

I can't live without my wine aerator. This one fits right on the bottle and is for both red or white wines.

Everything is better with wine, including Monopoly! You can have a glass of vino as you play the wine themed version - Wine-Opoly.

This glass jug is perfect for a big batch of sangria or other beverage of choice. It's glass and won't stain if you use red wine either.

These are a total splurge but they're a perfect nibble to go with your wine. Mamie's Slice and Bake Cheese Wafers are made with cheddar cheese, butter, pecans and cayenne pepper - yum!

Cheese is the BEST and my all time favorite food with wine. They go together so perfectly! There are so many great cheeses locally - grab an assortment, add wine and you have an instant party. The Cheese Shop at the West Side Market has an amazing assortment of everything cheese. While you are there you can pick up some hoomis and pita, pink peppercorn lemon and basil dipping oil, bread, olives and some sausages for a perfect gift.

L'Albatros has FANTASTIC cheese at their restaurant but did you know you can special order some for at home? Call 216-791-7880 and ask for Tesa. She will help you custom order seasonal and properly aged cheeses that will be sure to delight.

Some other favorite places for cheese are Miles Market, Trader Joes, and Heinens.

If you are eating cheese, that normally means you need a knife. This special cheese knife from Cutco makes cutting softs cheeses like brie super easy so you can spend more time eating and less time cleaning off the gunked up knife.

How about a wine tote made out of a recycled Ohio license plate from Littlearthshop.com?

A local wine that gets rave reviews is Sonkin Cellars. I've never tried it but it's on my list of my try wines. It's available at fine restaurants including Lola, The Greenhouse, Valenti's and Fire or you can order by clicking here or by stopping in The Wine Spot on Lee Rd. in Cleveland Heights.

These sunglasses are so cool! I love that they are recycled of course but the fact that they are made from Robert Mondavi's oak wine barrels will make any wine lover a little bit giddy. Polarized lenses and 100% UV protection make them good for your eyes too.