Water & Wines | California 1000 Wine Puzzle Review

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I have long wanted to try a Water & Wines puzzle, but with a $49 starting price, they’ve always been just a little out of budget. I finally bought one this past week during Prime Day when they went on sale for 20% off. Unless you’re buying a bundle pack, they aren’t discounted too often, so I felt it was the right time for me to buy one. I chose the California Wines puzzle, which is one of their most colorful and (in my opinion) beautiful and puzzle-friendly designs.

Water & Wines is a company that blends the art of puzzling with the rich heritage of wine and spirits. Their puzzles are sommelier-crafted and feature detailed, hand-drawn designs. Made sustainably, each puzzle aims to educate and entertain, highlighting the diverse wine regions and their distinct qualities. The company also supports environmental and social causes by planting trees and donating to improve global access to safe drinking water with every purchase.

The California Wines puzzle features a gorgeous top-view map of the state of California and uses bold and vibrant colors to highlight some of the most renowned wine regions like Napa Valley, Sonoma County, and Paso Robles. A charming nod to Mexico’s tequila trade in the corner adds an extra touch. Except for a quick few years in Texas, I have lived in California my entire life. I was born here, went to school here, fell in love, got married, and now happily live back here. Besides thinking this is the most fun puzzle they offer, how could I choose another design but my beloved California? I love the funky and 70’s-esque style of illustrations the artist used. There are lots of wonderful nods and highlights of the state, from the beautiful portrait of Marilyn Monroe to the cheeky illustrations of our state animal—the grizzly bear—riding a surfboard or lounging in a donut-themed inner tube to the psychedelic bands of color near the illustration of the Golden Gate Bridge. I particularly love that they included our state bird, the quail!

All of Water & Wines’ puzzles come in their trademark packaging with plastic-wrapped sturdy cardboard boxes. Note: the plastic wrap sealing the box is recyclable. Each box has a full image of the puzzle on the front (some parts of the image are obscured by product details), and a list of different wines grown and created around the state of California along with their flavor profiles and food pairing recommendations on the back. The box itself is soft and velvety to the touch, which matches the finish on the pieces that I’ll discuss later. Each Water & Wines puzzle comes in a different colored box. The colors pair nicely with each other, creating a beautiful rainbow of colors when placed side by side on a shelf.

The inside of the box includes a neat detail: an illustration of a grape vine and what looks like the reproductive and growth cycle of a grape. The colors of the illustration on the inside of the lid reminded me of the old wine crates that used to have similar illustrations and logos branded onto them. Additionally, they’ve included an illustrated ‘Know Your Wine Glasses’ chart on the inside of the top of the box, highlighting the different wine glass shapes you should use based on the wine you are drinking.

Inside, the puzzle is sealed in a 100% recyclable and biodegradable non-reusable plastic bag. It comes with a large full-print poster of the puzzle that is the exact size of the puzzle itself. And lastly, the puzzle comes with a box top holder for displaying the box top upright so that you can easily reference it while puzzling.

When it comes to the puzzle itself, it’s a dreamy level of quality. The pieces and box have that soft-velvet touch and the pieces are pretty thick. They are made on a locally sourced paper-based backer shows off the artwork really well by allowing a beautiful saturation of color. A nice bonus of the velvet finish is that it also resists glare due to the matte nature of the material. There was very little dust with this puzzle, though I did wipe down my table after the sorting process. My only complaint is that I found a single piece where the top art layer had just slightly started peeling away from the backer. This mostly means extra care needs to be taken when disassembling the puzzle to ensure that more pieces don’t separate.

The actual puzzle pieces, as well as the box, are very reminiscent of the Art & Fable puzzles if you are familiar with them. In addition to the similar feel, both companies also provide a box top holder. Initially, I thought they might be made by the same manufacturer, but a quick examination of the boxes and their sites shows Water & Wines puzzles are made in the US/Germany and Art & Fable puzzles in Poland. Art & Fable puzzles typically start at $24.95 for a 500-piece puzzle and $32.95 for a 1000-piece puzzle, making them quite a bit more affordable. I sell Art & Fable puzzles in my shop, and if you’ve read my previous reviews or followed me on Instagram, you know that I hold them in high regard. That being said, I would expect at least this high of quality from a company that is charging $49 per puzzle. I was really pleased that the quality at least matched the level of an Art & Fable puzzle. It was initially disappointing to think that you were mostly paying $16+ more for a Water & Wines puzzle but, then I remembered that Water & Wines is pretty eco-conscious, so the extra price is also going toward those more eco-friendly details (more on that next).

When it comes to environmental impact, it’s nice to see that Water & Wines is clearly thinking about their footprint. They produce puzzles using recycled materials and plant-based inks, striving to minimize their environmental impact. The company also plants a tree for every puzzle sold and donates to initiatives that enhance global access to clean drinking water. Their European orders are produced in the first climate-neutral factory in Germany, and they partner with a local manufacturer for American orders, reducing unnecessary freight. These actions highlight their dedication to protecting the environment and supporting vital social causes. Creating an environmentally friendly product incurs higher costs, and these various factors contribute to the higher price point of their puzzles.

When it came to the assembly, I started by sorting the entire puzzle by color, edge, and separating any larger portions of text. The edge was completed first and was pretty easy, but I did slow down on the bottom-most edge as the water pieces were harder to place with such an even wave texture across them. Following the edge, I put together the large text pieces which, despite being in all caps, were fairly straightforward and easy. I wanted to complete a nice graphic element next, so I put together Marilyn and the Golden Gate Bridge. The next focus was the water and the main emblem in the bottom left corner, which contained the title and different wine types. I was a little worried given the fact that the bottom edge slowed me down, but the majority of the water has icons and elements across it which made assembling it easier. I worked on getting all the icons together and starting the coastline, then came back later in the puzzling process to finish up the last bits with the full water texture pieces.

The psychedelic rainbow sections near Marilyn came next, and by this point, the puzzle was starting to come together nicely. It was time to work on the actual state next, and as I had sorted by color, it was easy to work on each individual section. Little plaques with different wine types were scattered across the state, mostly red wine but some white, sparkling, and rosé too. The text on these plaques made piecing together the state easy. The text ensured that you knew the correct orientation of each piece, and the different labels meant you could look for specific letters on the various outer prongs and easily figure out which piece you needed. The network of rivers and mountain ranges crisscrossing the state also provided visual detail to look out for, and before I knew it, I was putting in the last piece.

This puzzle came together quickly and was immensely fun and satisfying. It’s up there with the top five puzzles I’ve done this year. I loved how colorful and bright it was, and the variety of icon sizes along with the use of texture and pattern made this a fairly easy build. I loved the high-quality feel to the pieces and how beautiful it was to look at while working on it. I can see myself putting this puzzle together year after year.

If you are wondering if Water & Wines Puzzles are worth the high $49 price, I think that they are. The puzzle quality is one of the highest that I’ve personally done but note that you will be paying more due to the added cost of manufacturing a more environmentally friendly product. Buying products which make less of an environmental impact is important to me so I don’t mind this (although I definitely wish they were cheaper for my wallet’s sake). If you were considering buying a nice gift for someone who likes puzzles, this would be a great option. If you would like the high-quality puzzle but at a more affordable price, I would consider an Art & Fable puzzle instead. A&F produces puzzles at an comparable quality with some other eco-friendly manufacturing processes and decisions as well but have a lower starting price.