Holiday Picks: Wine gifts you never knew you needed

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - From glasses and blending kits to cheat sheets on tasting and solutions for what to do with all those corks, the range of wine accessories in U.S. stores is both vast -- and bewildering.

While once there were just flashy bottle stoppers and snazzy corkscrews, now there are gadgets that will save a weak-wristed drinker from having to swirl the wine and even .

Here is an assortment of gadgets and gifts that wine lovers may not have even knew they needed this holiday:

1. Silhouette Wine Glass

Most experts agree that the sense of smell is essential to tasting wine so Peter Rigas of Tomzi International, who hopes to knock the ubiquitous Riedel wine glasses from their shelf, has designed a hand cut glass that is notched on one side that allows the drinker to, as he says "bury your nose in the aroma." (http://www.greatestwineglass.com))

2. Wine aroma kits

The human nose can identify more than 2,000 different odors with a variety of aroma kits now on the market that promise to train the nose. With vials of the most common odors - plum, leather, green and black pepper, butter and peach to name a few - along with aroma cards and instructions they promise to help you recognize and discuss wine like a sommelier. (http://www.aoweb.com) or (http://www.wineenthusiast.com)

3. Blend your own wine at home

Crushpad, the do-it-yourself winery in San Francisco, is offering people a cheap way to experience blending their own wine at home. The winery will ship its Fusebox, a collection of seven bottles (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc) some pipettes, recipe and aroma cards to create a unique red. (http://www.crushpadwine.com)