Wine Glass Charms

Wine Glass Charms - fad or necessity?

Last night I was watching a show on the Discovery Channel about sea lions, and how the mother/child relationship worked. I was fascinated by how the mother—leaving her baby on the shore—could search for food, come back and actually be able to tell which one (out of 1000’s) was her own baby. I was thinking that at a party—as I leave my glass of wine on a table to go out and forage for food of my own—upon return to the table I couldn’t pick out my glass from the other ones placed alongside. Clearly, I would be a horrible mother seal. But in all seriousness, haven’t we all done this? Gone somewhere, put your glass down, and then when you go to pick it up again, you can’t remember which one it is? Uh huh…I thought so. For me I’m lucky if I can remember where I left my glass, let alone determine which one it is out of others around it, but that’s another story.

Sure, there are ways to figure out which glass is your own…see if it has lipstick or not, try to remember how much wine was in it before you put your glass down, or other types of things like that. One soiree I went to even had a ton of different wine glasses so you could remember which one you have, “for you sir, you get the Silver Oak glass.” But, if a standard glass is used for everyone, there are products made that can help you keep track of your glass and mark it.

Wine accessory companies, being ever so diligent to keep up on consumer trends, realized this problem and came up with a solution: wine glass charms. Those are the clever little markers that differentiate your glass from everyone else’s.

The cheapest of these types of markers are what I call the “paper donuts.” These are cylindrical pieces of paper with a slice through one side to the center, usually with nifty grape designs or some other wine theme, that slip around the stem of the glass. You write your name on the little disc, and the glass becomes yours. I’ve actually used these in vertical tastings of wine and labeled each glass with the vintage so I could keep track, which is pretty helpful instead of trying to keep them all in horizontal order on the table. At large parties, such as weddings, these discs are a low-cost item that can save on the number of glasses you need. Think about it; if someone loses a glass and they can’t find it or tell which one is theirs, what do they do? Yep! Get a new one, which means you have to have enough glasses or take time to wash (which at a party is no fun). That also wastes wine since there are a bunch of half full abandoned glasses sitting around.

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Other types of wine glass charms are a bit like jewelry. They sort of attach themselves to the stem of your glass, and instead of having your name, you get a different charm to differentiate your glass. These things literally come in all shapes and sizes. A colleague of mine has a set that are gold, but the shapes are different—one is a glass, another one is a wine opener, another is a grape bunch, etc. Others I’ve seen are different colored stones. Others are letters of the alphabet…the list goes on. Essentially it’s a way to discern your glass from others. You do have to remember what shape/charm is yours though, because if you don’t, you’re back to square one.

You can pick up these charms anywhere wine accessories or gifts are sold. Winery gift shops, specialty stores, boutiques, online wine stores—all of them have wine charms of some sort. Believe it or not even Tiffany’s has gotten into this little trend and has made some of their own wine glass charms! But, you don’t have to go fancy. If you’re a creative person, you could even make your own, which I’ve seen very tastefully done. Since I’m not the creative sort whatsoever, I have to buy them. With so many different types and varieties to choose from, I recommend searching for some that appeal to you and perhaps even fit the décor of your house. For a few dollars, you can jazz up your next party where wine is served.

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