Choosing Wine Glasses

All purpose glasses: If you're just starting to acquire wine glasses, buying some all purpose glasses like the ones in the picture is a great place to start. You can serve any wine you choose in these, and it is a great money saver to have just one kind. It is also makes setting the table much easier!

Clear glasses: There are some good reason for choosing clear wine glasses rather than ordinary drinking glasses or colored glasses to serve your wine in. If you choose clear ones, you can appreciate the color of the wine.

Glasses with stems: There are several reasons. You can hold the glass by the stem and avoid smudging the bowl with fingerprints. You also avoid warming the wine from the heat of your hands when you hold it by the stem.

One of the pleasures of admiring wine is swirling it around as you hold it by the stem, admiring the way it coats the bowl of the wine glass.

When you’re choosing wine glasses you may decide that you would like to splurge on more than just all purpose wine glasses. You may decide that you want exactly the right glass for the right wine.

The Riedel Wine Glass Company is famous for designing exactly the right glass for the right wine. A visit to their website is an education in the range of wine glasses available. You’ll find different types of red wine glass, of a white wine glass, dessert and sherry wine glasses of course glasses for champagne

In fact, on the Riedel website you will see pictures of every size and type of wine glass you would ever want.

Even with quality Riedel products, you can find a price range to suit you when you shop for wine glasses. You can go for pricey crystal stemware, or less costly glassware.

Here are a few of the more-used shapes.

Champagne glasses: You can choose from the flute shape or the wide coupe shape. The flute shape holds the bubbles better and allows the wine to retain its chill.

On the other hand, the coupe shape is versatile, you can also use it to serve other dishes like desserts.

White wine glass:When you're choosing wine glasses for your white wine, you'll be choosing a tulip-shaped glass.

With a narrower opening, the wine retains the slight chill at which it should be served.

Usually you will only have one kind of white wine glass regardless of the type of white wine you are serving.

Red wine glass: Red wine glasses are rounder than white wine glasses, and usually have a wider bowl.

The Bordeaux glass is tall with a wider bowl than the white wine bowl, as you see in this picture. Typical wines you would serve in this red wine glass are cabernets and merlots.

The Burgundy glass is usually wider again than a Bordeaux glass. Use it to serve wines like Pinot Noir. But if you don't have a Burgundy glass, don't hesitate to use your Bordeaux glass.

Sometimes you see the sherry glass referred to as a copita – which simply means small wine glass.

Remember that you want to host a stress-free dinner party. If all of this information about choosing wine glasses starts to get more complicated than you want, just keep things simple.

Use only the number and kind of wine glasses you’re completely comfortable with. On any given dinner party night, that might mean just using the tried and true all purpose wine glass. Your guests won’t turn the wine down because you used your all purpose wine glasses!

Back from Choosing Wine Glasses to the Home Page.