White wine glasses

For young, fresh wine, the slender bowl is standard. The wine’s surface area stays small. This keeps the wine cool, the acidity crisp, and directs the aroma straight to your nose. Sauvignon blanc, riesling, and pinot grigio need exactly that. Allow 20 to 30 cl.

For a fuller-bodied white wine, it works the other way around. An aged chardonnay has woody notes and a hint of creaminess, which only come out with more air. A wider bowl of 35 to 45 cl is better for that. This kind of glass looks like a small red wine glass, and in restaurants it’s often used that way too, with one range for both white and red.

If you’re tasting rather than drinking, there are small tasting glasses ranging from 13 to 22 cl. They often have a measuring line so each pour is the same size. Red wine calls for larger sizes, which you’ll find under red wine glasses. At home, allow two glasses per guest. In restaurants, allow two to three times the number of covers.

Pour the glass no more than one-third full, and a little less for white wine. Topping it up with small amounts more often keeps the wine cooler than pouring a full glass that sits on the table for half an hour. Serve crisp white wine at 8 to 10 degrees. Fuller-bodied wine that has been aged in oak at 10 to 12. Too cold, and the aroma disappears.

Always hold the glass by the stem. If you wrap your hand around the bowl, the wine warms up within a few minutes, and with white wine, you notice it straight away. A large white wine glass is also the standard glass for a spritz. For a hugo spritz add ice, prosecco and elderflower. The bowl then mainly serves as a vessel, and the ice keeps everything cold. Put the bottle back in the cooler after each pour, so you never have to rescue the wine halfway through.

White wine glasses are often the thinnest glasses in the cupboard. You notice that in the dishwasher. Place them so the stems don’t touch, choose a short glass-washing cycle, and take them out as soon as it’s finished. If the steam lingers, it settles as limescale and makes the glass cloudy.

A cloudy film is almost always limescale. A splash of vinegar in the rinse water will get rid of it. Dry the glasses with a lint-free cloth, holding the bowl, not the base. Twisting the base is exactly what breaks stems. A glass brush with a soft head reaches further into a narrow bowl than a sponge and won’t scratch the glass.

If you'd like to see all the shapes side by side first, take a look at the wine glasses. If you prefer bubbles to still wine, a narrower bowl is a better fit. You can find one among the champagne glasses, also suitable for prosecco and cava. If you search by brand rather than by shape, each brand has its own page in the menu. And if you mostly pour drinks on the patio, the Aperol Spritz is the recipe your largest white wine glass is just right for.