White wine in winter: LIOCO’s ‘Winter Whites’ gift box

Need a quick gift for a wine and food lover? LIOCO, the highly lauded Sonoma winery founded by former Spago sommelier Kevin O’Connor and fellow wine aficionado Matt Licklider, has put together a gift box that’s impressive without costing the Earth.

A wooden box holds two bottles of white — their 2011 Pinot Blanc and the 2011 Russian River Chardonnay, along with 1.5 pounds of polenta from Community Grains and an ounce of porcini mushrooms from Far West Funghi for $85.

I’m betting any cook would appreciate this gift box, especially because it includes O’Connor’s own recipe for “Whole Roasted Guinea Hen Stuffed with Minced Shallots, Tangerines and Sage, Served with Sautéed Porcini Mushrooms Over Creamy Polenta.” Quite the long recipe title, but the flavors sound as if they’d work beautifully with the wine.

(Would somebody please tell everybody where to find a guinea hen?)

Though reds may be the obvious choice to drink in colder weather, some serious wine people gravitate toward whites in winter. O’Connor is one of them, which is why he put together this “Winter Whites Gift Box.”

If that option doesn’t suit your fancy, for the same price you could get the “Hen of the Woods Gift Set,” which includes a bottle each of LIOCO’s 2011 Indica Carignan from Mendocino County and 2011 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir along with those Far West Funghi wild dried mushrooms and some porcini salt.

And for that Pinot lover on your list, consider “Reds from the Edge,” a bottle each of three single-vineyard Pinot Noirs — the 2011 Klindt, 2011 Hirsch and 2011 Michaud — in a wooden box, $165.

To order online, visit the site or email info@liocowine.com.

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