The Alpine Holiday Gift Guide

For the Alpinists and wine lovers in your life (or maybe just for you!)

Happy Holiday season! Alexandra and I have recovered from our respective Thanksgiving comas and are just starting to consider our gifting strategies for the next month. Normally, I try to collect things over the course of the year for those I exchange December presents with but this year I’ve found myself a little behind on said gifting strategy. For last minute shopping, I love gift guides if they’re good — “good” meaning, thoughtful, unique, and encouraging of purchases imbued with meaning and/or longevity. The planet has enough to deal with without our increasing contributions to landfills, and I do my best to consider gifts that fall into at least one of these three categories: experiences, consumables (food/drink), and craftsmanship.

This is our take on a gift guide for those who love wine, the Alps, and/or mountain living in general. We hope you enjoy it and of course please send us any ideas that we should add!

Julia + Alexandra

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Wine Drinkers

• Subscription to TRINK Magazine, the first and only English-language digital publication dedicated to the "German-speaking wines" of Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

• Our friends at TRINK love the Josephinenhütte wine glass collection and we’ve been coveting a pair of the Universals

• Wink Lorch’s latest book, Wines of the French Alps: Savoie, Bugey and beyond

• José Vouillamoz’s Swiss Grapes: History and Origin

• Gift card to a wine shop with a passion for Alpine bottles

  • Rosenthal (NYC)

  • Kermit Lynch (SF)

  • Weygandt Wines (D.C.)

  • Barrel Down Selections (Santa Barbara)

  • Chambers Street Wines (NYC)

• A wine cooler inspired by traditional Alpine jackets (I mean, sign me up!)

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Alpinists

Sentier Italia

• A donation to a conservation group that protects wild lands in their area (a Google search will help you see who is in that region)

• Hiking boots from a family-run company in the Dolomites

• A trip for your favorite person (or us?) to this stunning hotel in Switzerland

• Travel print, either vintage or contemporary. Etsy has some great contemporary ones and for vintage editions, check out:

  • The Poster Museum

  • Chisholm Larsson Gallery 

  • 1stDibs

  • Elbe Paris

• Mountain-inspired holiday ornaments – Swiss Backpack and a Bavarian Hat

• An Epic Pass to ski mountains in North America and/or Europe

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Après-skiers

From the film THE PHANTOM THREAD

• Northern Italian slippers that stay in style year round

  • Julia: I always have to size up a size or two in this style. An 8.5 US for me is sometimes a 40 EU, so check with the company on what they recommend.

• Swiss-inspired blanket in red and white check

• Edelweiss des Alpes scented candle

• Natural and sustainable soaps and creams from Austria

• Jigsaw puzzle to accompany the hot cocoa crowd by the fire

• My favorite t-shirt: Alpine Everything

• Austrian dishware, with plates, mugs and more

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Foodies

• Alpine Cooking, which is more than a cookbook but a collection of stories about the people and places that make the Alps what they are are today

• Kitchen Arts and Letters is a wonderful cookbook store on NYC’s Upper East Side. They ship internationally and can help you find a great gift for anyone looking to to deep dive into Alpine cuisine

• Gift card to an Alpine-inspired restaurant. We wouldn’t mind one to Lavaux Wine Bar in NYC’s West Village

• Selection of high altitude cheese and jams

• Mushroom knife (because who doesn’t need one) from the artisan Swiss knife-maker Klotzi

• Fondue pot or raclette cooker for the best dinner parties ever

Krampus, the bearer of Austrian holiday gifts