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It's the holiday season once again. Time to order your gourmet cheese baskets.

Why cheese gift baskets? There are many reasons, for many different types of people on your gift list.

Last Christmas season my friend Lisa was talking to me about trying to find the right gift for their friends from Germany who now live in United States. "Why not a gift basket of German cheeses?" I suggested. The gift was perfect for them. It was a taste of home the didn't normally get here in the states.

If you want quality, I'd recommend you order online or find a quality cheese shop, and not buy from one of the big-box retailers. Cheese baskets from shopping malls and department stores often have processed cheeses that aren't as good as the real thing. That's okay if you are on a tight budget, but if you can splurge a little, might I suggest a few places to look:

Amazon.com

Amazon has the biggest selection that we've come accross for cheese gift baskets. Their selection is so big, in fact, you probably want narrow your search. If you want to treat your recipient to California cheeses, just search for California Cheese Baskets to see a smaller selection.

igourmet.com

igourmet.com is where my friend Lisa found her German Cheese basket last year. She was very happy with the quality of the gift. igourmet has a fairly big selection of gift baskets, and their cheese is great.

latienda.com

Latienda specializes in food from Spain, so many of their gift baskets don't include cheese. I highly recommend their Villajos Manchego (pictured). In fact, we even wrote a review on Villajos Manchego earlier this year.

Feeling especially generous? The most expensive gourmet gift basket we've found so far is a deal at $1,166.00, featuring Ibérico ham, four wines, and a wheel of aged Manchego cheese. (Don't worry, latienda.com has lots of less-expensive gifts as well.)