It all started so innocently with one small gift of homemade cookies that your neighbors reciprocated with a very fancy bottle of wine, which made you want to buy something even nicer the next year to thank them for that bottle of wine, which they returned with a gift certificate for a swanky restaurant in town.

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If a colleague gives you a token of his or her appreciation, must you run out and buy an iTunes gift card or a bottle of wine to show that you care too?

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They received their vine as a gift six years ago and once tried making a bottle of wine on their own at home, but never even uncorked it.

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He has a gift for bubbles, too, like this lively, rich, berry-inflected wine with New World ripeness and Old World grace.

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For the oenophile wanting a viticulturally inspired challenge, Naples throws up an interesting tussle, as its greatest culinary gift to the world, the pizza, is one of the hardest food and wine pairings to get right.

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