How To Ace Your Sad Solo Holiday Meal, According To A Wine Writer

First things first: wine. Obviously, there are tons of places to order from, so this phase is really about what you like to drink and how much lead time you’ve given yourself to stock up. 

If you’re ordering in advance and live in a participating area, try Drizly, Instacart, or Minibar—each one offers same-day delivery (depending on availability) or future scheduling for custom orders of wines, spirits, mixers, and full-on groceries (the latter mainly pertaining to Instacart). Often, through services like these, you can shop from small, local stores that you might not have come across otherwise. Are there extra fees for delivery? Yes, but they’re usually not as bad as you might think, and if you maximize each order, it’s worth it. Just don’t forget to tip your shopper or delivery person.

If you’re a plan-ahead kind of person or don’t have access to on-demand delivery services, you can place your bottle order through larger sites like Vivino or Wine.com, or you can support a smaller business directly by working with one that ships to your state (my personal favorites are Parcelle in New York City and 3 Parks Wine in Atlanta). 

Lastly, you can always support your local hospitality industry by calling bars and restaurants around you to see if they have any bottles up for grabs, and if you have a go-to winery, be sure to call or check their website to see if they can ship to you. ‘Tis the season to be thoughtful about where we spend our money, amirite?