Wine glasses

The shape tells you the most, so that’s where you start. In a round, wide bowl, a lot of wine comes into contact with the air, and the aromas are drawn upward. That’s the Burgundy shape. You’ll find it among the red wine glasses in sizes from 75 to 96 cl, made for Pinot Noir and other grapes where aroma matters more than structure. A taller, straighter bowl lets the wine land farther back in your mouth and softens firm tannins. That’s the Bordeaux shape, usually around 55 to 75 cl. White wine calls for the opposite. In a slender bowl of 20 to 35 cl, the wine stays cool and the fruit stays fresh. These are among the white wine glasses.

There’s a lot of confusion about capacity. You never fill a 55 cl glass to the brim, for example. You pour about a fifth of the bowl, so a large glass holds just as much wine as a small glass. The only difference is that the wine has more air. If you’re looking for one range for everything, choose something between 43 and 55 cl. The really large bowls have their own page with large wine glasses. And then there’s the number. At home, two glasses per guest are enough. In hospitality, plan for two to three times the number of place settings, so there’s always a clean set ready.

Pour up to the widest point of the bowl and stop there. Above that point, the glass narrows, and you need that space to capture and swirl the aromas without spilling. “Room temperature” dates back to when homes were colder. Red wine tastes best between 16 and 18 degrees, white wine between 8 and 12. Hold the glass by the stem or base. With your hand around the bowl, the temperature rises noticeably within a few minutes.

Young, bold red wine softens when exposed to air. Half an hour in a decanter helps more than an hour in an open bottle, because the wine is spread over a much larger surface area in a decanter. You decant old wine for a different reason: to leave the sediment in the bottle. Wine doesn’t always have to be drunk on its own, either. For sangria use a large bowl-shaped glass with ice and fruit, and then the glass serves mainly as a bowl. If you’re serving different wines one after another, go from light to full-bodied and from dry to sweet. Otherwise, the next glass will taste flat.

Lead-free crystal glass is thinner and clearer than tempered soda-lime glass, but that doesn’t make it weaker. Professional ranges are designed to go through the dishwasher every day for years. Damage almost always happens at two points. The first is when drying. If you hold the foot and twist the bowl around, all the stress is concentrated where the bowl meets the stem. That’s where it breaks. So hold the bowl and twist the cloth inside it.

The second point is in the dishwasher. Position the glasses so the stems don’t touch, choose a short cycle at a moderate temperature, and take them out as soon as it’s finished. If the steam lingers, it settles as limescale. You can remove that cloudy film with a splash of vinegar in the rinse water and a lint-free cloth. You can also wash them by hand. Just be sure to rinse them well with hot water, because soap residue leaves a thin film that you’ll later smell in the wine. Store the glasses upright in the cupboard so the thin rim doesn’t rest against anything.

Do you already know which wine you’re going to serve? Then click straight through to the right model in the menu alongside. Sparkling wine calls for a different glass. You’ll find flutes, coupes, and tulip glasses for prosecco and cava under champagne glasses. If you’d rather search by brand than by shape, each of the major brands has its own page. Have some wine left over? With wine stoppers , an opened bottle stays good for a few days. And if you want to make an aperitif with wine, a Kir Royale is pretty much the easiest recipe there is.