Whatever holiday(s) you celebrate as the year winds down, wine is always a welcome gift, so of course I have some suggestions for allaying those worries about picking the “right” wine for any of your friends. First, it’s important to know that there will be many wines that could make a wine lover happy, so don’t stress about finding “the one.” That said, even if there are several options, it is still stressful trying to figure out what will please a finicky friend, so I have an excellent solution: instead of gifting wine, how about gifting a wine experience?
The best Santa (Photo © Melponem)
You can never go wrong giving someone special a gift that is not only special in itself, but lets the recipient choose the wines they’ll enjoy. I’m thinking here of tickets to VeritageMiami. Tickets are now on sale for our always popular Craft Beer Tasting on February 13, the Interactive Dinner featuring chef Giorgio Rapicavoli on February 28 and the wine-oriented Farm to Fork with chef Michael Schwartz on March 15.
The Craft Beer Tasting will once again be held at exciting Wynwood Walls and will feature around 50 breweries pouring their famous creations and, in many cases, limited release brews that will be new to the beer lover on your gift list. This is a wildly popular event and, at just $85.00 a ticket, it’s an affordable way to show someone special that you care and to support United Way’s work in our community at the same time. And, don’t forget, there is beer! And food too – more than 20 area restaurants will be there to share their culinary inspirations.
Mark your calendars for February 28 – that’s the date of our always sold-out Interactive Dinner. This year, the ever-engaging Giorgio Rapicavoli of Eating House is the guest chef coaching our diners cooking at their own tables. This event is eagerly anticipated all year long, and we only have a few tables left, so check it out now if you want to make a splash and give tickets to one of Miami’s hottest culinary events.
And finally, on March 15 we debut a new event under the VeritageMiami umbrella, the exciting Farm to Fork brunch with chef Michael Schwartz. Michael was our lead guest chef exactly 10 years ago, and this year we celebrate the farm-to-table movement he helped bring to South Florida with the sustainable agriculture emphasis at his flagship restaurant Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink. With this event, we celebrate not only Michael’s vision, but a number of chefs who have followed his lead and emphasized sustainable agriculture and the “locavore” spirit of sourcing as many ingredients as possible from the bounty of South Florida farms.
We invite you to attend with a friend, and give the gift of sustainability this holiday season – sustainable agriculture and the sustainable compassion that is at the heart of United Way of Miami-Dade’s many charitable endeavors. With tickets to the Farm to Fork Brunch you show your support for local agriculture (and don’t forget, it tastes really, really good!) and you support United Way of Miami-Dade. And, you give a gift of good taste – that is a triple impact with a single gift.
To purchase your gifts, visit VeritageMiami.com.
And yes, you’ll want wine as well, so I’ll share further wine ideas for the holidays next week.
Cheers!