For example when you buy a \100 item, and it immediately breaks, isn't it sad to know that you just threw your money away by "pinching pennies"?

A glass is just a glass, right? I mean the foremost glass makers in Japan and Europe make tumblers that I can just as easily get at a \100 shop. If I am careful enough with it, it can be just as good, right?

Oh, I forgot to mention one thing. These downsides apply not solely to \100 Shops but also discount shops as well. But of course the quality corresponds to the price.

When purchasing items one important thing to help you judge quality is by the value of a brand.
This includes the happiness you derive from owning a brand name good.

In Kansai recently Riedel imitations have begun popping up.
These consist mainly of Chinese made glasses copying Riedel's more utilitarian line, Ouverture. The price of the roughly hewn sham is about half that of an original Riedel.
(The bowl is slightly contorted and the joints of the stem are rather crude)

In every age in every place there will be a knock off produced to mimic an original item. But these businesses use cheap materials that will undoubtedly make it easier to break than the real deal.
Yet if the customer doesn't care about this fact, then of course store owners will continue to supply them with a cheaper alternative.
The main goal of the store is not to provide quality goods but instead turn over a large quantity items, and I mean if you want to put money in their pockets every time you need to replace a glass...

Owning one of the many fake goods produced like the Shpiegler copy of the Vinum series or the Chinese knock-offs of the Ouverture line doesn't allow you to have the same feeling you would have in owning an original.
Do you really derive the same pleasure or value from owning a Louis Vuitton bag or Rolex watch fake as you would from owning the genuine article?
Just ponder that idea next time you think that you are about to purchase a bargain.
Well, until next time...take care.

For a while the standard wine rack for homes were the pine or lava wood accordian racks. These were for the most part made in Thailand, and even more recently production has shifted substantially to China as you might have expected due to cheap labor costs. This type could be used for a display and when you weren't using it could be folded up, but this was never thought of as a long-term storage solution. However was this just a trend? (Can wine racks be trendy?) More than the all-wood model there has been a recent shift in preference towards the square-shaped wooden rack with metal connectors (our company deals in the Austrailian-made BORDEX Co.).

The characteristic of this type is its square compartments which provide both a snug fit for bottles and creates an overall space efficient rack. Even more than a superb display, if you later wish to expand on the capacity of your rack it is easily expandable (or should I say stackable) so you can just purchase a new rack, and with a clip (attachex) you can stack the new one right on top of the old. The idea is reminiscent of a child's toy block and is as simple as it is functional and space-saving.

This type of wine rack can be made as large as the user wants, take for example the wine rack in a Melbourne hotel that stores 2.7 tons of bottles for business use. The wood used in this rack as and is most common is pine, however, a Malaysian wood, Meranti, is for "VIP" use in Australia and despite having a similar color to pine it gives an altogether special impression. The best point of these racks are their combination of metal and wooden parts that make deciding which type to choose a painless process.
The wooden pieces have pre-cut slits into which the metal attachments fit snugly. To ensure a tight fit and thus a stable rack it might take a little effort to get the pieces into place. (Depending on the maker) the metal pieces might or might not be coated in black or some other color. This is so that bare metal when stored in a humid cellar will not rust. The only tool you will need when putting together a large wine rack is a mallet (work golves might also be handy).
However, for small household racks (up to 12 bottles) this is not necessary.

In 1998 when the wine boom seemed to peak (I don't usually like to put it like that but...) all sorts of wine accessories began popping up. In wine shops and glass stores and such instead of the same old accordian wine racks sleeker and cuter racks could be found placed everywhere.
Specially balanced holders for just one bottle became more and more prevalent.

If you are looking for a wine rack to add to your interior decor, I would suggest instead of a 6 bottle rack (the limited capacity might just mean that you'll need to go out and buy another one soon) the 9 or 12 bottle size rack is just the right size for kitchen or dining room storage.

For anyone the truth is that thicker glasses are harder to break, but even thin stemware if dealt with in the following ways will normally last many times longer.
Now, everyone has experienced a glass breaking on them, for example, when toasting and bringing your glasses together accidently chipping a rim. For toasts and such one should be aware that the rim is the most fragile part of the glass and should be avoided when the glasses come in contact with each other.

Next, when cleaning or polishing a glass the first part you should focus on is the base, but gripping the base while polishing the rest of the glass (despite the fact that it may seem like what a pro might do) is actually the worst technique.
Structurally the rim and the stem are a glass' weakest points.
Twisting the glass from base while polishing the bowl causes undo stress on the weak stem and if repeated a number of times, will definitely cause it to break.
The correct way to dry and polish your stemware is to use two cloths. One for when holding the base of the bowl and one for inside the glass. This not only protects the integrity of the stem, but it also gives you greater control when wiping the inside of the bowl.
Then last you should wipe down and polish the base of the bowl and the outside of the glass.
It is important to be as careful possible with the weak rim and stem.

For truly perfect shine a fine linen cloth should be employed (make sure before polishing that all liquid has been removed because this is the very important to maintaining your glasses).
The major synthetic textiles company, Toray, sells one called a "Toray See." This product is a fabric made of a specially developed material that is intricately woven 2 micron fibers that will not leave a deposit, and is very similar to the cloths used to polish the lens of glasses. Needless to say it is a big hit since it does excellent with high quality crystal glasses like Riedel.
The idea is simple, normal cloths like hankerchiefs and such are composed of threads larger than 15 microns which skim over much of the dirtiness on the surface, yet the intricate weaving of the Toray See's 2 micron fibers remove even oil residues with razor-like detail just by rubbing. Also where many polishing linens falter the Toray See succeeds in removing trace amounts of water giving that marvelous finish to your fine stemware before storing them. Long ago they used to shake egg shells in the glass before polishing. This was to help preserve a lusterous sheen.

Next, is a wonderful product for thin glass or particularily hard to reach areas like the base of a decanter. The MicroCleaner doubles as both a tough degreaser and an anti-bacterial agent. This superior non-toxic cleaner naturally decomposes in about 2 weeks after drainage.
Before to get rid of the atringence of red wine and other stubborn filths in the hard to reach parts of decanters I recommended an expensive over-the-counter solution with the denture cleaner, Polident. Yet with the advent of the MicroCleaner this alternative became altogether defunct. This item was originally for medical use to clean orthoscopic cameras, but it has proven to be quite versatile and is being used by beer makers to clean bottles. I even use it to clean hard to get and heavily soiled places on the rims my motorcycle. (I admit that this is kind of an odd use for it)

Above I introduced a few simple ways to extend the life of your important wine glasses. By all means everyone should try this at least once.

Lastly a quick side note. Fine stemware which uses crystal that contains lead more so than you might think adds greater durability compared to some other materials. More than that, though, the taste of wine out from soda glass stemware reflects its cheap price tag, and I don't think its merely my opinion when I say this, but no matter the price of the wine it will taste better out of a nicer glass.