The wine gift basket is a very traditional gift and it is appropriate to give to both friends or business associates. It is also suited to many different holidays including Valentine's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, weddings and birthdays. The only time that the wine gift basket is inappropriate is in the case where the person has a medical condition or an addiction that prevents them from drinking alcohol. This is something that you should find out if you are planning to give a wine gift basket to a business associate or a client so that your gift is appropriate.

The wine gift basket works well during the holiday season as a corporate present. This is because you can include several items that can be s hared amongst the staff of a company at their Christmas party.

The typical contents of a traditional wine gift basket are bottles of wine (either red or white or both), crackers, cheese, pate, caviar, chocolates, cheese, cookies and wine glasses. Sometimes the wine gift basket can also include a corkscrew or items such as cheese slicers or decorative wine stoppers.

If you know that the person you are giving the wine gift basket to is a wine snob then you should be careful about what wines you give to them and also about the food that you select to go with it. For instance chocolate is more complimentary to red wines than white wines. Fresh fruit belongs more in a wine gift basket that has white wine. For a different sort of twist on the idea of the wine gift basket try giving gourmet wine such as Ice Wine or Port and add unusual crackers or cookies.

Although it is not exactly wine, the gift basket that contains champagne fits into the wine gift basket category. Champagne goes great with truffle spread and crackers, caviar, pate, strawberries, raspberries and chocolate. It is one of the nicest gifts you can give to celebrate an occasion such as the announcement of an engagement, a promotion or birth of a baby.