Stylish And Shatterproof Wine Glasses

Have cocktail party coming up? Ditch the tacky plastic cups! Now there's an elegant way to serve wine when expensive stemware is not an option: govino shatterproof wineglasses.

Shaped much like the Riedel O tumblers but at a fraction of the price (4 for $12.95), these reusable, recyclable glasses are made from a flexible polymer that reflects wine's color and aromatics much like crystal. "We tested all kinds of polymers," says Joseph Perrulli, who designed the award-winning glasses with Boyd Willat. "We looked at viscosity of the wine, how it rolls down the inner wall of the glass, the way the aromatics project, the color, everything."

Since being introduced in 2008 as a sales tool for wine distributors and importers, govino has been a breakout hit in the wider wine world. It's the glass of choice for Robert Mondavi's national Discover Wine Tour. It was used at the 25^th anniversary party of Napa hot spot Mustards Grill. "I loved seeing winemakers like Christian Moueix of Dominus and Pétrus holding it up to the sunlight," Perrulli recalls. A Napa resident himself, he notes with satisfaction, "If you go to a party here, you're either going to get great stemware or govino. There's nothing else."

Now a third wave of interest is building as govino hits the design and housewares market. After getting shelf-space at trendsetting shops like the MoMA and Cooper-Hewitt museum shops in New York and ZeroMinusPlus at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, it's become the hot new gift item. Soon there will be champagne flutes, too. Launching March 15, they'll arrive just in time to supply some casual elegance to those outdoor May weddings. (Photos courtesy of govino)