Best wine glasses? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

Off Topic

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Best wine glasses?

MsMary

Veteran

I realized last night, to my horror, that when I went to The Former Marital Residence to retrieve my belongings, Mr. K had hidden my Waterford crystal service for 12 and therefore I didn't get it. And it is now gone forever because I'm certainly not going to fight over it. Gah. Like he's going to ever use it...

So. I am in the market for replacement "nice" stemware. I have been doing a little internet research and replacing my Waterford is obviously going to be cost-prohibitive. And I am intrigued by the idea of buying wine glasses for function, rather than looks. It seems that the cut crystal look of my youth is "out," and expensive-but-plain, shaped-to-fit-particular-wines glasses are "in."

I don't want to spend a fortune but I'd spend a decentish sum for some nice red wine, white wine, water, and champagne glasses for my holiday table. Anybody have anything they swear by? Any helpful hints?

Off Topic

22 replies

Latest reply was from cheryle (Dianthus)

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Reidel makes a cheaper line that I find pretty good. The regular Reidels are very expensive.
Zweisel is also good
http://www.surlatable.com/cate.....CAT-258065

ETA Reidel's cheaper line

http://www.riedelusa.net/riedel/ouverture/

Emily

Veteran

Perhaps not quite as plain as you're looking for, but I have and love stemware from this collection:
http://www.mikasa.com/patterns.....stephanie/

JAileen

Veteran

I don't know about the best. But I like simple clean lines. If I were buying new wineglasses I would probably go to Crate and Barrel and see what they had. They have families of glasses for different types of wine. I would also be mindful of what fit in my dishwasher because I hate handwashing. Also I would look for glasses that I could buy just one if I needed to replace a broken one. Nothing like breaking an irreplaceable glass.

BTW, we were given some of the stemless glasses and turned out we didn't like them.

Echo

Veteran

Mikasa (regardless of the collection or pattern) would have been my suggestion, too. They have beautiful stemware, and they also sometimes have stores in outlet malls where one can get better prices than in department stores.

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

We just bought some Reidel's and I like them. But "nicer" stemware is also more fragile of course. Our workhorse wineglasses (for larger parties and casual use) come from a restaurant supply store where I buy them by the case of 24 for about $1.50 each.

JamC

Veteran

We enjoy wine like Anna would recommend Riedel glasses. Target carries their cheaper glasses so you could check them out. The more expensive glasses have a thinner stem and thinner edge which I like. I like their simple lines too! I like your idea of some for red, white, and champagne.

Sadie

Another vote for Reidel. (we have the expensive one, about $60-80 for 6-8 depending upon sales) The design lets you really appreciate the wine. We use ours daily and they wash well and have proven quite durable. (I hand wash mine).

MsMary

Veteran

Sadie, I would pay $10 per glass. What is the name of the glasses you have?

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Also I've bought Reidel at Bed, Bath & Beyond using one of their 20% coupons they always send out.

Caro in Oz

Veteran

Agreeing with Anna & all Reidel are great imo.

We have done blind tastings from different glasses (same wine but no one knew) all the "experts" & the rest of us thought the wine in the Reidel glass was a much better wine.

ETA just found this.

http://www.theguardian.com/lif.....hance-wine

Makrame

Veteran

I am with JAileen - we have Crate and Barrel wine glasses for reds and for whites, and I really like them. These are not super-nice and also not as big as some of the glasses in nice restaurants/Riedel wineglasses but they are nice enough for us and our guests (DH is a member of wine club, many of our friends are very much into wine, we usually visit wineries a few times a year etc. so we do drink a decent amount of good wines). These are the glasses we used to buy http://www.polyvore.com/gala_1.....d=25377807 and I still have some stored in the basement in case of breakage. I don't think this collection is still on the market but they might have something similar.

I like that I can put these into a dishwasher and fit them easily into a cupboard since they are not too big. When we have a lot of people over on holiday occassions, I appreciate the fact that I have lots of matching glasses, and do not need to worry too much about doing the dishes afterwards.

We also have stemless glasses from Pier 1 - I like them for juices and simple wines in a casual setting.

Diana

Veteran

I have these crate and barrel ones :
http://m.crateandbarrel.com/vi.....ss/s240729
(We actually liked these cheap ones more than the much pricier ones they also sell.). My "red wine" glasses are I think the same family but smaller than the big ones on the site right now. (They may have been sold as water goblets, I'm not sure.) I actually dislike the really gigantic restaurant glasses and prefer smaller ones anyway. I do not like stemless glasses at all - your wine gets warm and your hand gets cold!

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

I love these Reidel's

http://www.riedelusa.net/riedel/vitis/

They are a little fancy, but the martini glasses are TDF, so I went ahead and got wine glasses to match. (-; They are pricey, but I do love nice wine glasses. We only own two of the cabernet glasses and two martini glasses (which may be discontinued) so far, hoping to add two at a time as we can afford them.

For whites, cheaper wines, and parties, we have a set of 12 from C&B that is very plain and cheap (and easy to replace, so we also use them for larger parties). I think the C&B ones might be these?

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/.....ses/f58606

The size of the cheaper ones is quite small compared with the Reidels, so if you have a really nice bottle of red it's much, much better to buy at least two good glasses so you and a friend can enjoy it!

I guess it depends on how fancy you want them to be, and how much you care about wines. Our neighbor is an afficianado and collector (e.g. he rents a 500 bottle cellar for his collection) and he owns 4 sets 6 different Reidel glasses! Whenever he comes over we feel bad that we don't have the proper glass. LOL. I think he has the Sommeliers line.

ETA, for champagne, TBH, I would go with IKEA glasses...but that's just me. I only ever need a cache of champagne flutes once a year at most, so would buy the cheapest (also, likeliest to get broken!). Maybe I'd spring for nice champagne glasses if we were more into champagne, but hubby doesn't care for it.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I confess, after breaking the last of the "good" wine glasses we owned, I just got the Reidels that Target carries. The C&B ones are not bad either. As hard as we are on this stuff, I just can't see paying a lot for them when we seem to break them within a year or two.

abc

Veteran

I was just looking at our open shelves that display stemware and decide I'm going to cull nearly all of it, so this is a timely post. Sorry for the circumstances of your need to buy new, but hey, at least you get to buy exactly what you want!

Debbie

Veteran

I just bought some Kate Spade as a wedding gift. Pricey but Macy's had a great deal. I think I want some for myself.

MsMary

Veteran

Thank you so much for all the great suggestions, everyone! I knew I could count on the Fabbers to hook me up!

I decided on the entry-level Reidels. Ordered this set: http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ.....#038;psc=1 plus the matching beer/water glasses. They should be waiting for me when I get home from Seattle Shoptember Inge-Fest!

ATLynn

Veteran

What a shame about your Waterford, especially knowing it will go unused when it could have been loved. But, excellent choice with the Reidels. You're going to love drinking your wine out of super thin crystal. I'd start with some celebratory bubbles

I know MsMary is already sorted but for anyone who is as, erm, clumsy with your nice things as I am, I highly recommend these titanium crystal ones. The quality is amazing, they have the lovely crystal ringing sound (vs. a glass plink) and I CANNOT break them despite my best efforts.
http://www.amazon.com/Schott-Z....._1?ie=UTF8

And for those on a budget, there's a long running rumor that these glasses from World Market are actually made by Spiegelau. With sales and 20% off coupons, you can often get them for $3-$4 a stem. http://www.worldmarket.com/pro.....38;from=fn

Rambling Ann

(website)

Veteran

Great choice and great style about the lost Waterford.
If I had the chutzpah, I'd send him a bottle of wine to enjoy in his stemware, maybe with a sweet note about how to wash them. Thank him for caring for these heirlooms for future grandchildren. Then pour a glass of something really great in my new glasses and thank my lucky stars.

Laurinda

Veteran

The best wine glass is a full wine glass.

Sorry you lost your favorite glasses, hope you make many pleasant memories with your new ones. I'm no help, I just get cheap ones from the thrift store or sets from Ikea since I end up breaking them anyways :-/

minimalist

Veteran

Is he open to dating, and is there a YLFer of his type who'd take one for the team by going out with him a few times, until she could retrieve your Waterford? Well I did have to ask!

Or what about those posh rehab centers around L.A.? Do celebrities get rid of their stemware when they go on the wagon?

Seriously though. If you're going to Europe any time soon it would be worth checking small glass makers. (No idea what they're called in English!) Many of them have shops where "seconds" are around 10-12 euros, indistinguishable from pieces that sell in boutiques for 80-100. Typically these factories are a few hours out of town, though.

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

Divorce sucks!

I think you made a great choice. I usually have very simple and plain wine glasses but a few years ago I saw these hand blown wine glasses with iridized streaks while in Mexico. Over the last few years I have brought home a set of wine glasses, martini (could be dessert) glasses, and two sizes of water/beer glasses. Next year, I may get shot glasses to match.

Some of them have flaws and they are not all the exact same size, but they are extremely heavy glass and not one of them has broken and I have banged them on the stone counters quite a few times. You can see one of the wter glasses on the table in the background of the pic.

This post has 1 photo. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.