Cool Gift of the Day
Monday, July 25, 2005
What it is:
A tricky and tempting wire puzzle that keeps a bottle of wine under wraps.
Why we love it:
A bottle of wine is always a thoughtful gift, whether you're bringing a nice merlot to the host of a dinner party, or presenting a rare vintage to a serious oenophile. Thoughtful though it may be, we have to admit we always feel a little sheepish giving a bottle of wine as a gift. It always feels like a bit of a cop out. Admittedly we probably hold ourselves to a higher standard than most (not to mention our friends always expect us to produce some brilliant gift), but we imagine that you would also like to give something a touch more unexpected. Since there's nothing particularly unexpected about a bottle of wine, we turn instead to the packaging. With some gifts, the packaging is half the fun, and no, we're not talking about bubble wrap. What we're talking about is this fabulous wine bottle wire puzzle, which you can present, cunningly wrapped around your gift of wine. In order to get at their prize, your recipient must first solve the puzzle and extract the bottle, which is considerably harder than it looks. Don't worry, if they're completely flummoxed, the puzzle does come with a set of instructions. You can put whatever vintage you want into the puzzle, and if wine is not your speed you can try a nice olive oil, vinegar or anything else of a fairly standard size. It's a gift within a gift, and once they've solved it, your recipient can use the puzzle to display a particularly fine bottle of wine, or lock up the burgundy to taunt their dinner guests.
Who we'd give it to:
Wine lovers, dinner party hosts, puzzle lovers, masochists.
Where to get it:
From
Spilsbury for a tantalizing $29.95