Having dinner guests and gifts they bring

by Gina Fugazi
(Cary, NC)

Miss Manners,
My husband and I enjoy entertaining. We have dinner guests over about once monthly, and mix it up between old friend and new. We recently had a couple over for the first time this past weekend. Very nice people. They brought over a bottle of wine in a beautiful wine tube. We enjoyed the wine they brought, and I suppose made the assumption that the case came with the wine.
Two days later we were contacted by the couple, asking for their wine case back. We are going to give it back, however, my husband is shocked and has stated he felt that their request 'lacked class'.
I was always brought up being told that whatever I brought to someone's home when they had me over, was considered a gift. In fact, I recall my grandmother telling me to not place items on good dishes for that reason. Are we over-reacting?