You can never go wrong with arriving with a bottle in hand for your hosts. Unlike flowers, which send them scrambling for a vase, or a confection that requires refrigeration, booze is low maintenance. Make it an unexpected or newly launched brand, like a novel vodka made from peas (see below!). As for hosts who abstain from alcohol, get them buzzed on the savory flavors of a wine facsimile. Here are seven libations with personality and pizzazz.
HUBERT BROCHARD SANCERRE TRADITION 2023
This classic Sancerre opens with aromas of citrus, fresh herbs and elderflower, and possesses flinty minerality from grapes grown in limestone and flint soils. The Bollinger Group, known for its Champagne, recently acquired Domaine Hubert Brochard. The Loire Valley winery dates back to the 1900s, with 152 acres of vineyards, and is already making impressive cuvées.
ARBIKIE NÀDAR VODKA
The world’s first vodka made from green peas—a crop that captures the nitrogen from the air—is distilled in Scotland at family-owned Arbikie Highland Estate. A clear vodka with floral and white pepper aromas, it has an earthy flavor that’s both vibrant and intense
MIJENTA TEQUILA CRISTALINO
Maestra Tequilera Ana Maria Romero crafts this sipping tequila to highlight its aromas. Barrel aged for eight months, and filtered to clear in an artisanal process, Cristalino displays aromas of coconut, citrus and vanilla, along with flavor notes of caramel and cooked agave. From the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, Mijenta is the first tequila to earn B Corp certification, which means the brand considers both environmental and human resources.
VARA SILVERHEAD ZERO DOSAGE SPARKLING
From New Mexico’s Vara Winery, this bone-dry, 100 percent Chardonnay (with no added sugar) is good for the diet-conscious. Made in Méthode Champenoise, aged for 18 months, it’s crisp with bright flavors. The talented winemaker Laurent Gruet—previously of Gruet Winery, whose Blanc de Noir critic Robert Parker once named best sparkling wine in America—is behind this new brand.
LIGHTHOUSE GIN
From the southernmost tip of the North Island at Cook Strait, this small batch New Zealand gin gets its pure, bright flavor from natural spring water. Composed of nine botanicals and distilled with Yen Ben lemons (higher in acidity than Meyer lemons), the gin exhibits notes of pine, coriander and cassia.
WÖLFFER ESTATE SUMMER IN A BOTTLE SAUVIGNON BLANC
On the heels of the 10th anniversary of the iconic Summer in a Bottle Rosé, Wölffer has just launched the Sauvignon Blanc version, which comes in a breathtaking bottle with a riot of flowers, fruit, birds and butterflies printed onto the glass. With scents of gooseberry, dandelion and lime, the wine has honeydew melon and kiwi flavors, fresh acidity and minerality.
NON-1
NON-1, a non-alcoholic wine from Melbourne, Australia, is made from whole raspberries, chamomile, Murray River Sea Salt, cane sugar and verjus. It’s carbonated and conjures the sensation of drinking a flute of sparkling rosé.