So, I finally got one of these Water & Wines puzzles, and I’m afraid the only thing I really loved about it was the image.

As soon as I spread out the pieces I noticed that they were quite thin, and quite a few pieces had some lift. This is not what I would expect from puzzles that cost an eye-watering 45 EUR. I got this for 31,50 EUR, which is still about double what I would expect to pay for a Ravensburger.

Here you can see a few of the damaged pieces – there were many more:

When I had a closer look at the box, it actually says that the puzzle is made by Trefl, and indeed, the cut turned out to be a perfectly ordinary Trefl cut, which means it’s also a bit prone to the odd false fit. Now, don’t get me wrong – even the ordinary Trefl cut is ok, if you pay about 10 EUR for the puzzle, which is what they usually cost. Trefl also do some really nice cuts, for example the Crazy Shapes series have much sturdier pieces and a better cut with no false fits, and of course, they also have nice wooden puzzles. In fact, I’ve got a few 1000-piece Trefl wooden puzzles, both of which cost less than 45 EUR.

The finish of the puzzle is called velvet-touch, and while it feels nice, it’s somewhat impractical, since it makes it harder to slide a piece into place over other pieces. In the box, there is also a poster, and a stand for the box (both unnecessary in my view, but I know a lot of people like posters).

What we are left with here is a mediocre product at an astronomical price. On the Water & Wines logo, it says “Puzzles made with love by sommeliers”. I realize that the expertise of sommeliers doesn’t come for free, but this is way too expensive. Above all, they should also have employed someone who knows about quality puzzles, not just sommeliers. The only thing that really works here is the image.