The Ultimate Summer Picnic Basket

In this classic picnic basket we’ve combined classic ingredients like Champagne grapes and delicious cheeses, with some important additions like bestselling couples’ literature, a safari bar kit from India and a bottle of wine from northern Spain.

Picnic-Basket-Gear-Patrol-Lead-1440-2 Henry Phillips

There are wonderful things about fine dining: the clink of glassware; the elaborate display of rich foods placed in front of you; a clean white tablecloth beneath the tall stems of crystal holding red pools of wine; high-minded chatter from surrounding tables and hands touching in the middle of your own. But when the weather is warm on those halcyon days of late summer and early fall, the last thing you want to do is tuck in your shirt and sit in an air-conditioned restaurant. This is the time of year for picnics, for packing an extravagant assortment of comestibles, spreading a cloth on a patch of grassy meadow and grabbing your lover by the hand to the sound of Kenny Chesney’s “Summertime”.

In this classic picnic basket we’ve combined essential ingredients like Champagne grapes and delicious cheeses with some surprising additions, like bestselling couples’ literature, a safari bar kit from India and a bottle of wine from northern Spain. If you don’t find yourself falling in love as the sun sets, well, you’ve probably got very little game indeed.

Hard Goods


Baskets, Lanterns and Blankets


Picnic-Basket-Gear-Patrol-Durables

Peterboro Classic Picnic Basket ($69)
Made in New Hampshire from Appalachian white ash.

UCO Special-Edition Candle Lantern ($50)
Nine hours of candlelight should get you through the evening.

Wood and Faulk Camp Stool ($165)
When the ground is wet, sit on English bridle leather instead.

Woolrich Continental Divide Trail Jacquard Blanket ($185)
Soft wool will take you into fall.

Getting the Love You Want ($14)
Nobody said love was easy, sport.

Oliver Peoples Sheldrake Sun Buff with Green C Mineral Glass ($365)
A classic inspired by Andy Warhol.

Comestibles


Cheese, Wine and Sun-Kissed Romantic Love


Picnic-Basket-Gear-Patrol-Consumables

Opinel N. 09 Knife ($14)
A classic folding knife from France.

J & R Guram Sleeman Safari Bar (Inquire)
Four stainless steel tumblers stacked over a hand-blown, hand-cut glass 1/2 pint decanter inside a buffalo-hide leather pouch.

Mitica Doce de Tomate ($9)
Pairs nicely with cheese.

2005 R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia Crianza Blanco ($29)
100% Viura from one of our favorite vineyards in Rioja. Pairs nicely with hard cheeses, roast chicken and all kinds of grilled fish.

Corkcicle Air ($25)
A creative way to keep the wine, and only the wine, chilled.

William Sonoma Marble Cheese Board ($50)
Weighs down your basket, makes your bicep look bigger while carrying it.

Austin Melamine Salad Plates ($35)
Real plates take the whole thing to another level.

Prosciutto di Parma ($10/lb)
A classic dry-aged meat made from the hind legs of whey-fed hogs.

Pria Azul ($4/lb)
A sweet, salty and savory blue cheese from Asturias in northern Spain.

Vermont Creamery Bonne Bouche ($11)
Vermont Creamery’s classic aged goat cheese.

Roomano ($20/lb)
Sort of like aged gouda, this cheese is diabolically sweet and salty — like candy.