As anyone working in the wine industry will tell you, there are a lot of great wine-oriented holiday gift options out there.  Unfortunately, there are far more awful wine-oriented gift options around.  For every classic, simple decanter there are a dozen different plastic wine goblets with flashing LED lights on ‘em.  This ongoing, sporadic Gift Guide aims to help you sift out the good from the bad. Happy holiday shopping!

The Good Gift

The Riedel “O” Series Wine Tumblers.  Around $20 for a set of two.

I have this awesome, accidental move I do where I’m sitting on the couch and go to cross my leg then inadvertently punt or take out a wine glass by side-swiping it by the stem with my foot, resulting in broken glass, spilled wine and (usually) soggy snacks.

The Riedel “O” Series have rescued me from this feat by lowering the bowl of the glass right to the table.

Now, I know that wasn’t the purpose of these, but it is a nice ‘kickback’.

These glasses are great for lazing around the house, or having good friends over.  They come in all the classic shapes, but we like the Cabernet and the Pinot Noir ones for their good, large, satisfying graspable size.  They’re pretty damn handsome, made very well and quite affordable, plus one can never have enough of them.

Oh, and Wine Snobs: don’t give me any bullshit about how they’re not good for white wine because there’s no stem for your hand and as a result your body heat will hasten the de-chilling of the wine.  Assuming you keep white wine in your fridge, you’re most likely serving it way too cold anyways, and you totally know that, now don’t you?

These glasses are fun, casual, enjoyable and not too fussy.  Just like the enjoyment of wine should be.

The Bad Gift

The LED Flashing Light Wine Goblet. $3.95 US

Never Never Never Never Never Never Never

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