What is the right wine glass?
A Reader asks
What is the right wine glass?
Lately, most restaurants we have visited have one wine glass they use whether you are drinking red or white.
It is very large, looks like a water goblet, and when I request a proper white wine glass I am invariably told "It's Reidel" and give a look like they found me under a rock!
I drink white wine mostly, and when I drink out of these glasses it doesn't taste right nor seem appropriate.
Am I totally out of step with wine glass etiquette? Or are they just being lazy (cheap?) using only one glass for all wines?
Darby Says
The appreciation of wine is a subjetive matter so there is no absolutely correct answer to this question.
Which glasses are used is really a matter of fashion. Until the 1970s we drank champagne and sparkling wines from shallow bird-bath glasses, allegedly
based on the shape of Marie Antoinette's breast.
Reidel does have stemless wine glasses these days and to some extent they make sense. But if you wish to swirl and evaluate the colour of the wine then a stem is handy. Ask the waiter firmly for a stemmed glass, if you don't get it tell the Maitre d' what you think of the service.
As for the restaurant being cheap and lazy you get what you pay for. Just make sure you don't give a tip.
You can buy there impractical but trendy wine glasses from Amazon
Riedel O Set of 6 with 2 Bonus Glasses
Am I totally out of step with wine glass etiquette?
Or are they just being lazy (cheap?) using only one glass for all wines?
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