Chef & Sommelier

The first difference is the material. Krysta is the thin, clear crystal glass Chef & Sommelier uses for its bowls: light in the hand, with a fine rim you barely feel. Kwarx is another story, developed for glasses that go through the wash line daily. It stays clear after hundreds of cycles instead of turning milky, and you find it in the Vigne, Lima and Primary tumblers.

Then choose by shape and capacity. The Open Up bowls are meant to be universal, so if you want a single range to cover the whole wine list, start there. For sparkling wine you have the choice between a narrow flute of 16 to 20 cl, which holds the bubbles for a long time, and a roomier Exaltation of 30 or 35 cl, which behaves more like a wine glass and works better with mature champagne. The 30 cl Cabernet coupe is the classic saucer shape for a cocktail with sparkling wine. Among the tumblers, height decides the use: 20 to 31 cl for water and spirits over ice, 33 to 45 cl for long drinks.

Fill a wine bowl to its widest point and no higher. On the Open Up of around 40 cl that comes to roughly a third of the glass, and it is precisely the empty space above that catches the aroma. Swirl the glass on the table rather than in the air, which saves spilled wine. Hold the bowl by the stem, so white wine and champagne stay at temperature.

Pour a flute in two goes: first a splash against the sloping wall, wait for the foam to settle, then top up to about two thirds. The 10 and 12 cl liqueur glasses from the Spirits line are meant for port, sherry, grappa and digestifs, of which you pour four to six centilitres. For a stirred classic like the negroni reach for a Vigne tumbler of 20 or 31 cl, and serve the dry martini in the coupe.

Everything in this collection is made to go in the dishwasher, and that is exactly the point of the range. Kwarx was developed to counter the dull haze ordinary glass picks up over time, caused by a combination of hard water and aggressive detergent. Krysta bowls are thinner and deserve a shorter programme and some space in the rack, certainly around the stem.

Dose the detergent sparingly and use rinse aid in moderation, because too much leaves a film you can see against the light. With hard water, rinse afterwards with demineralised water or add a dash of vinegar. Polish with a lint-free cloth while the glass is still warm, and hold the bowl rather than the stem while you do: most stems break during polishing, not during drinking.

If you want to compare Chef & Sommelier with other glassware in the same class, look more widely at the wine glasses, where all the bowls stand side by side by shape and capacity. If it is only sparkling you are after, the champagne flutes sit separately. You will find the Vigne, Lima and Primary models among the tumbler glasses, and the Spirits glasses with the liqueur glasses. If you are building a bar, this glassware goes with the tools from the cocktail shakers, where the strainers and mixing glasses are too. Still hesitating between Krysta and Kwarx? The questions below decide it.