Wine with Seth

WineShop

Cards, glasses, and tools I have used and personally stand behind.

I only list what I have used and would recommend to a friend. No sponsored placements, no top-50 filler.

Some links earn us a commission at no cost to you. Full disclosure below.

Learn

The deck I built, and the books that answer nearly every wine question I get asked.

Seth's Pick
Mistral WineCards Deck ONE tin with the Cabernet Sauvignon card fanned in front
Mistral WineCards Deck ONE tin with the Cabernet Sauvignon card fanned in front, view 2
Mistral WineCards Deck ONE tin with the Cabernet Sauvignon card fanned in front

Mistral

Mistral WineCards Deck ONE: Global

$35

Fifty-five cards that teach the whole world of wine one concept at a time, and the deck I built because nothing like it existed.

The World Atlas of Wine book cover

Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson

The World Atlas of Wine

$65

When I need to see why a slope in the Mosel or a fog line in Sonoma matters, this is the book I open, and the one I would keep if I could only keep one.

Wine Folly: Magnum Edition book cover

Madeline Puckette & Justin Hammack

Wine Folly: Magnum Edition

$35

The book I hand to someone who wants to understand wine without reading a textbook; the charts do more teaching than most paragraphs.

The Oxford Companion to Wine book cover

Jancis Robinson & Julia Harding

The Oxford Companion to Wine

$65

The reference I check before I say anything with confidence, from malolactic conversion to what a cru actually means.

The Wine Bible book cover

Karen MacNeil

The Wine Bible

$37

The book I recommend to someone who wants one volume that covers everything and reads like a person wrote it.

The New French Wine two-volume boxed set in its slipcase
The New French Wine two-volume boxed set in its slipcase, detail: three-quarter angle showing both book spines
The New French Wine two-volume boxed set in its slipcase

Jon Bonné

The New French Wine

$126

Two volumes on where French wine is going rather than where it has been; the best wine book of the last decade.

Glassware

One glass does most of the work. The other two are for the moments that deserve them.

Read: The one wine glass I recommend
Gabriel-Glas StandArt universal wine glass, pair
Gabriel-Glas StandArt universal wine glass, pair, packaging: closed 2-glass box beside the pair
Gabriel-Glas StandArt universal wine glass, pair, packaging: box open, glasses nested inside
Gabriel-Glas StandArt universal wine glass, pair

Gabriel-Glas

Gabriel-Glas StandArt

$67 / pair

One glass for everything, Champagne to Barolo, and the one I name when someone asks which single stem to buy.

Seth's Pick Zalto Denk'Art Universal hand-blown wine glass

Zalto

Zalto Denk'Art Universal

$128 / pair

My daily glass for ten years. Mouth-blown, absurdly thin, and mine go through the dishwasher on the lower rack every night and have never broken. The best glass I have ever used.

Riedel Veritas Champagne wine glass
Riedel Veritas Champagne wine glass, scale: dimensions diagram
Riedel Veritas Champagne wine glass

Riedel

Riedel Veritas Champagne

$75

A Champagne glass shaped like a small white wine glass, so you get aroma instead of just bubbles; the flute era is over.

Spiegelau Definition Universal wine glass, pair
Spiegelau Definition Universal wine glass, pair, detail: etched base logo
Spiegelau Definition Universal wine glass, pair, scale: dimensions diagram
Spiegelau Definition Universal wine glass, pair

Spiegelau

Spiegelau Definition Universal, Set of 2

$45

Dishwasher-safe, hard to break, and good enough that I would not apologize for it at a dinner party, which makes it the right everyday set.

Riedel black blind tasting glass
Riedel black blind tasting glass, scale: dimensions and capacity diagram
Riedel black blind tasting glass

Riedel

Riedel Blind Tasting Glass

$119

The black glass I pour into for blind tastings, so nobody can see the color and everybody has to think.

Tools

The openers, stoppers, and preservation gear I would buy again, not the drawer full I have tried.

Read: How to open an old bottle without losing the cork
Coravin Timeless Three+ with argon capsules, needle guard, and screw caps
Coravin Timeless Three+ with argon capsules, needle guard, and screw caps, detail: 45-degree device angle
Coravin Timeless Three+ with argon capsules, needle guard, and screw caps, set: device with argon capsules and screw caps
Coravin Timeless Three+ with argon capsules, needle guard, and screw caps, in-use: pouring into a glass, no people
Coravin Timeless Three+ with argon capsules, needle guard, and screw caps

Coravin

Coravin Timeless Three+

$279

Pour a glass of something serious without pulling the cork, then put the bottle back for a month; it is how you taste through wines you are not ready to finish.

Seth's Pick Coravin Pivot+ with stoppers, aerator cap, and argon capsules

Coravin

Coravin Pivot+

$199

The simpler Coravin for wines you will finish inside a few weeks; it takes five seconds to use and costs less than the Timeless.

The Durand corkscrew with its box and cork stand
The Durand corkscrew with its box and cork stand, set: leather sheath with gift box (light-gray studio ground, not pure white)
The Durand corkscrew with its box and cork stand, detail: the two-prong corkscrew beside its sheath (light-gray studio ground, not pure white)
The Durand corkscrew with its box and cork stand

Durand

The Durand

$145

For old corks that crumble under a normal corkscrew; if you open anything with fifteen years on it, this is the tool that saves the bottle.

Pulltap's double-hinged waiter's corkscrew, open

Pulltap's

Pulltap's Double-Hinged Waiter's Key

$14

The double-hinged waiter's key that opens more bottles in restaurants than any other tool made, and it costs less than a glass of wine.

Riedel Cabernet decanter holding red wine
Riedel Cabernet decanter holding red wine, scale: 750ml fill-line capacity diagram
Riedel Cabernet decanter holding red wine

Riedel

Riedel Decanter

$70

Young, tight reds open up with air, and this one is easy to pour from and easy to clean, which is the part most decanters get wrong.

Repour wine saver stoppers, four-pack box

Repour

Repour Wine Stoppers

$20

A stopper that absorbs the oxygen in the bottle instead of just sealing it, so Tuesday's wine still tastes right on Friday.

Numbered burlap blind tasting bottle bags
Numbered burlap blind tasting bottle bags, set: all 10 numbered bags
Numbered burlap blind tasting bottle bags, detail: drawstring closure, in-hand
Numbered burlap blind tasting bottle bags, scale: bag dimensions
Numbered burlap blind tasting bottle bags

Shintop

Numbered Blind Tasting Bags

$12 / set of 10

The numbered bags I use for every blind tasting, so the bottle stays a secret until the reveal.

Gifts

Three groupings from the cards above, put together the way I would for a friend.

Gift by budget

Two Mistral WineCards Deck ONE tins

Mistral WineCards

Mistral WineCards Gift Set, two decks

$60

Two decks for sixty dollars with shipping on us, so one is for you and one is for the person you keep explaining wine to.

Picked by Wine.com, image coming soon

Wine.com

Picked by Wine.com

From $60/box

$30 off the first box plus free shipping with code PICK30

A sommelier-picked box that adjusts to what the recipient actually likes. The gift I suggest when someone wants to give wine and does not know where to start.

Seth's Pick For someone starting out: Mistral WineCards Deck ONE: Global, Gabriel-Glas StandArt, Pulltap's Double-Hinged Waiter's Key

Gift List

For someone starting out

All three: $116

The deck, the glass, and the opener: everything someone needs to start tasting on purpose instead of by accident.

  • Mistral WineCards Deck ONE: Global
  • Gabriel-Glas StandArt
  • Pulltap's Double-Hinged Waiter's Key
For the collector: Coravin Timeless Three+, The World Atlas of Wine, Riedel Decanter

Gift List

For the collector

All three: $414

For the person with a cellar: preserve the bottle, pour it right, and know where it came from.

  • Coravin Timeless Three+
  • The World Atlas of Wine
  • Riedel Decanter
For the student: Mistral WineCards Deck ONE: Global, Wine Folly: Magnum Edition, Spiegelau Definition Universal, Set of 2

Gift List

For the student

All three: $115

The deck, the book, and a glass to taste from, which is exactly how I would set someone up for WSET or plain curiosity.

  • Mistral WineCards Deck ONE: Global
  • Wine Folly: Magnum Edition
  • Spiegelau Definition Universal, Set of 2

Disclosure: Wine with Seth is a participant in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org, Amazon Associates, and Rakuten Advertising (Picked by Wine.com). Some links go directly to the maker and pay us nothing. When you buy through links on this page we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only list products we use and recommend.