Royal Leerdam

First choose the series and then the size, as most series span multiple types of glassware. If you want one collection across the entire table, L'Esprit du Vin and Gilde are the most complete: both include wine glasses, a tumbler, a flute, and smaller glassware. Carre and Experts Collection have cleaner lines and are better suited to a modern table setting.

Then consider the capacity. The wine glasses range from 20 to 32 cl in the classic series and up to 38 cl in the larger models. Champagne comes in a 21 or 22 cl flute and a 27 cl coupe. For drinks, there is a small glass of 5 or 6 cl, including the traditional Dutch roemer, which comes in packs of twelve. A 13 cl tasting glass is intended for small pours during tastings, and a 14 cl port glass for fortified wine. For beer, there is a 25 or 30 cl stemmed glass from the Beer Specials series, intended for specialty beer rather than pilsner.

The order of an evening can be found in this collection. During drinks, use the small glass: pour genever right up to the rim, and with a kopstoot place the shot glass next to the stemmed beer glass. Fill 15 cl amuse glasses with a chilled appetiser bite instead of a drink.

During the meal, the goblets change. Pour wine to the widest point of the bowl, leaving space above the wine for the aroma. A 26 cl cocktail glass is the measure for a shaken drink without ice, such as an espresso martini, served in a pre-chilled glass. After the meal comes the small stuff: serve port and sherry from a 14 cl glass, and cognac from a 25 cl snifter, which you warm in your hand to release the aroma. An Irish coffee, on the other hand, is poured into a handled glass that retains the heat without burning your fingers.

Many hospitality series are made of tempered glass. It is heat-treated after forming, which makes it cope better with thermal shock and with knocks. The difference you notice is at the rim: a tempered rim chips less quickly when glasses knock against each other in a full washing rack. That is why these glasses last for years in a bar.

All series can go in the dishwasher. If the glass does turn duller over time, it is usually limescale from hard water rather than wear on the glass itself; a cycle with vinegar or a lower detergent setting helps. Stand glasses upright in the rack and do not stack them inside one another, because two glasses that suction together rarely come apart without breaking.

If you're specifically looking for champagne glasses from this house or another brand, you'll find the full range under the champagne flutes. For the cocktail line with hurricane and pineapple glasses, see the cocktail glasses. And if you're looking for the same sturdy character in French hospitality glassware, you'll find it at Arcoroc, where the shapes are more streamlined but the intended use remains the same. If you're ordering for a business rather than for home, the overview under hospitality glassware is the most useful starting point.