Since man has created the first fire, wood has been an important material throughout our entire history. From the carved spears used in the early stages of hunting, to the desk your computer is most likely on right now, wood has been and always will be incredibly useful to our society.
And of course, wood has been used to make stemware and flatware. However, with the prevalence of materials like glass, metal and ceramics, wood has basically become obsolete when it comes to making simple forks and knives. You may see it once in a while as the fancy salad spoon, but not much else.
But what about wooden wine goblets? Wine has been traced back to very early time periods (about 6000 B.C.) – long before glass and metal were commonly used. After all, you always here about how wine is kept in wooden barrels to get their “oaky tones.” At about that time, the only other material getting much attention was clay for pottery. In fact, pottery was used to make most earthenware.
There are a few problems with wood. First, the wood will absorb the wine. This will damage the wood over long periods of time, as well as stain it (if drinking red wine.) Secondly, the wine can be affected easily from being exposed to the wood itself. This is not a problem so much nowadays because there are wood finishes to seal the wine and prevent moisture from penetrating into the wood. Centuries ago did not have this luxury, making wood much inferior to pottery wine goblets.
Consequently, wood is not a popular choice for wine goblets. However, with wood finishes available today it is perfectly fine to drink from them. In fact, many that you find are very beautiful. Wooden wine goblets are pretty rare finds, so the ones available are usually handcrafted and specially designed, meaning they can be quite expensive.
Because of their native look and feel, they act best as red wine goblets to complement the full bodied and earthy reds. They can also be used for white wines, but they simply do not go with the light taste of a white wine. For better or for worse, wood is just too loud for whites.
The easiest place to find wood wine goblets is online. Since it is mostly small businesses that do custom jobs, it is most efficient for them to sell online. However, if you keep your eyes open, you are sure to find them also in antique shops, garage sales and in other small corners of the universe.