Choosing Wine Glasses

Some General Guidelines

No matter what your style and mood preference is for wine glasses, here are a few things to keep in mind as you build a collection that suits your taste:

Glasses for Everyday Use --It’s always a good idea to have at least some glasses that you can bring-out at parties and events that can stand the test of time, particularly if it helps to use the dishwasher. Affordability is also a primary consideration with these glasses!

Buy two more than you think you need --Yes, it’s true, no matter how careful you are with your stemware, glass tends to break. Kids, spouses, friends and pets can never be trusted. It’s a good rule of thumb to buy two extra glasses to keep in a safe pace when you acquire a new glass set.

Red vs. White: Don‘t worry about it! --It’s one of those traditions that we don’t understand. Smaller glasses for white and larger glasses for red. If you like having different sizes of glass around just for the aesthetic variation, great! But white wine needs as much space to open up as red wine, and the fact that it’s served in a slightly smaller glass is a relic from times long gone. The nuances of today’s whites are every bit as dramatic and complex as the world’s best reds and there’s no reason to discriminate.

Colors or no colors? --Whatever you like! Many wine drinkers appreciate a completely smooth, clear glass so you can take in the nuances of the wine’s color. But if you like a streak of purple in your wine glass, go for it.

Buy flutes for Champagne and Sparkling Wine --Bubbles are not only part of the art form of sparkling wine, they are cool. A long flute ensures the bubbles have a long way to travel before they reach the surface, improving the experience all around.

The end of the Stem --It used to be par for the course that you would get glassware equipped with a long stem to prevent your hand from heating up the wine in the glass too fast. That tradition has been single-handedly overturned by Riedel with the release of its O Series in late 2004. These glasses are in the Italian style but more dramatic. They have the glass bowl component in every bit as much refined beauty as the standard series, but no stem at all! It’s true that the presence of your hand on the glass will warm the wine within, but many people enjoy the divergence from a long standing tradition. Like anything having to do with wine in the 21st century, the choice is entirely yours!

Tynan Szvetecz is an editor for http://www.savoreachglass.com, an international wine directory that is helping explore the spirit of wine for a new generation. Wine hobbyists, sommeliers, merchants and growers have all come together to contribute content to this directory in an effort to make it as informative and easy to use as possible.