[twoodfin]

It's hard for me to believe that "gleaming" or "shimmering" would be an objectively better translation. Even putting aside that it's a beautiful turn of phrase, Homer's audience would have been conscious of the simile suggested by the word choice, no?

[eukaryote]

I do agree wine-dark is a beautiful turn of phrase, but from what I gather the literal translation is "wine-faced" or "wine-eyed".

Have considerable experience of being "wine-eyed", I can assure you my eyes are generally gleaming. :-)