Royal Leerdam L'Esprit

The bowl size determines how much air the wine gets. The 25 cl is intended for a small glass, for example at a tasting or for a sweet wine. The 32 cl is the standard size for white wine: enough room to swirl, but the wine does not get warm too quickly. For red wine, choose the 41 or 53 cl, in which the wine can open up. If you work with fixed serving sizes, choose a model with a marking: there are bowls with a mark at 12, 12.5, and 15 cl. For sparkling wine, there is the 21 cl flute. Feel free to compare with the red wine glasses and the white wine glasses.

Never pour beyond the widest point of the bowl. Above it is the space where the aromas collect, and without that space you can barely smell the wine. In the 53 cl glass, that often means filling it no more than one-third full. Always hold the glass by the stem so your hand does not warm the wine. Serve white wine at around ten degrees and red wine slightly below room temperature; that brings out the best in the wine. A glass with a meal becomes instantly more festive with a kir royal beforehand or a pitcher of sangria on the terrace.

Royal Leerdam makes these glasses by machine in soda-lime glass, with the rim additionally hardened. That makes the bowl less sensitive to the glancing knocks that simply happen in a wash-up area, and it is the reason the series is so widely used in hospitality. Everything can go in the dishwasher. Put the glasses in the rack separately and dry the stem afterwards, then no marks are left behind.

If you want to see what else the brand makes, take a look at Royal Leerdam, where Bouquet and Carre are also listed. If you’re looking beyond a single series, you’ll find all the goblets under wine glasses. For an opened bottle that needs to last another day, the wine stoppers are ready, and you can pour port from the port glasses. If you’d rather try one size first, start with the 32 cl goblet.