Riedel glassware is all about bringing out the best in your beverages. The shape of their products ensures you can fully enjoy the aroma and flavour of your wine.

The company has researched grape varietals and stress that using the right wine tool is a must to maximise the aroma, taste, texture, and finish of your favourite wine.

Okay, so I have a little confession: I’m not big on wine. I enjoy a variety of alcoholic beverages, but wine is not at the top of my list of preferences. In fact, when I first joined book club (I’m not going to bother figuring out how long ago that was), I piously showed up with a bottle of Appletiser. Gradually the ladies at the club got me to sample their fermented grape juice.
(Oh, I should mention that I’m not at all averse to sweet wine, particularly dessert wine, and even more so on chilly winter nights – but then, who isn’t?).

Anyway, today I’ll happily try most wines, still trying to figure out what I like. One brand I’m rather fond of (and I know what the girls who attend Girl Geek Dinners are thinking, but this is about the wine!) is Reciprocal Wine. Technically they’re a supplier of great wine (see my complete ignorance about it?). They’re also a local stockist for Riedel glassware. (I’m getting to the point of this post, slowly but surely. Also, I am pretty sober writing this, although I’m not sure that’s doing me any favours.)

So at the last Girl Geek Dinner Reciprocal Wine had a wine decanter up for grabs, and to win, all you had to do, is tweet what you would do to win it. At the time I was basking in the happy glow of a second welcome drink (tip: always attend functions with a friend who doesn’t drink alcohol, and claim theirs as your own :)) after not having a substantial lunch. My thumbs got a super Twitter-workout, and among the mass of nonsense I generated, was this response:

I won, and I suppose my answer was a bit of a cheat. My initial response got mixed reactions. I then admitted to a bit of a crush on @neilhimself (who doesn’t?), and finally remembered that one of our speakers provided a way out of this, tweeting “Can’t reveal the identity of most Twitter crushes – did you not listen to @mngomezulu_n? Could open myself to lots of liabilities! #GGDJHB” (you can tell by how my spelling deteriorated that this was much later in the evening.)

How beautiful is the (lead-free, mouth-blown in Austria) crystal Cornetto Single decanter that was delivered to my office?

There are two main reasons why you should decant your wine:

1. To separate older wine from its sediment
2. To increase oxygenation in younger wines and better reveal its aromas and flavours

There have already been several requests that Reciprocal Wine be invited back as a GGDJHB sponsor. In the meantime, I can indulge in having a little (wine) crush on my gorgeous decanter.