Ever Seen a Hand Painted Wine Glass

by Evan Brewerton on April 22, 2010

Any sommelier worth his or her trade can tell you that the appearance of a wine glass is crucial to the perception of the wine itself. Wine glasses or Martini glasses are available in a superb range of styles, with certain styles reserved for certain types of wine. Wine glasses fall under the class of stemware, which are drink ware that stand on stems above a base.

Therefore a wine glass is composed of 3 parts: the bowl, where the drink is contained, and the stem, which supports the bowl upon the foot, or base. The proper way to drink from a wine glass is to hold it by its stem. It is frequently assumed that this is done, particularly in the case of chilled wines, so as not to affect the temperature of the drink by passing along one’s own body heat thru the hand and fingers.

But that’s a myth, as wine fans hold drink ware therefore so as to discern color and clarity without their own hands and fingers getting in the line of sight. One apocryphal bit of lore involving taste that will essentially be true concerns the particular construction of wine glasses : those made from fused or cut glass are said to gracefully change a wine’s true taste.

Blown glass is an OK material for casual drinking in unique martini glasses, but many professionals in the field claim that the best quality wine should be served in lead crystal wine glasses. They definitely look impressive, to be certain, what with a higher index of refraction that ends up in aesthetically more pleasing lighting effects passing thru them. They are also heavier and thus feel really nice when grasped, for people that take wine-tasting so earnestly as to reserve special wares for the activity must of prerequisite also find robust solid glasses a further pleasure that increases all pleasure overall.

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