Help! I had some relatives show up at the house for the weekend with a box of white zin....which glass do you all recommend?

Do you have any old jelly jars???

Plastic cups with sippy straws. Wouldn't want anyone to spill and leave a stain that you'd rather not have to explain later.

White zin should really be drunk straight from the box. Who needs stemware??

I opted for my plastic wine glasses that I give everyone else but me in the jacuzzi.

Riedel is good, but Spigs are better for guests. Only cost $ 5.00 to replace.

I happen to really like our wedding crystal. It's just beautiful. That being said, I would never serve a good red wine in it. However, an option might be to serve water in the (usually puny) wine glass, white wine in the water glass and then red wine in your good glasses. I think that's what we will do next week for my dad's birthday. Although that is going to lead to a lot of hand washing...

I don't think that there is any way I am going to be able to "get rid" of the wedding crystal, so my plan is to just buy new stemware and have both good wine stemware and wedding stemware. Depending on what kind of dinner we have, we can use one type of crystal or the other.

if you really hate it, you could always suggest you not save it for special occassions and start using it every day. The kids might innocently help in your quest!

We like to use the REAL silver, REAL china, and good stemware daily. Why save it? Can't take it with you, so might as well enjoy the stuff.

In the past when the kids were early teens, they learned how to use this stuff, set the table properly, and take care of the good stuff.

Now that they are grown, they always set a nice table daily.

Am on the fussy side myself, two forks, two spoons for every meal.

BIG BUMP!

The importance of stemware never ceases to amaze, though after all these years it shouldn't.

8 -10 Years ago we did a Reidel wine tasting at Franciscan, tasting the same wine out of various appropriate and inappropriate stems, and the light bulb really went off.  We immediately pushed the wedding crystal aside and over the following years accumulated god-knows-how-many Chard, Cab/Merlot/Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Port and Reisling stems (actually I just counted 45 after a rare Spiegelau loss last night.)  We've even "biggie-sized" and have a few select Sommeliers Series stems.   We mix Reidel and Spig, but prefer Spig for everyday use and entertaining due to their superior durabilty.   Well, we're huge Aussie fans and just came back from a great trip to Oz, and mrs davidandrose walked in the house tonite with a few Reidel Syrah stems to further (and belatedly) expand the collection.Â

I had decanted a 2004 Godolphin about 4 hours earlier, and the difference between the Cab/Merlot stem we would traditionally use and the Syrah stem was pretty substantial.   The Cab glass produced a stemmy nose with some green flavors and a thin, brief finish.  The syrah stem eliminated the stemminess and green, and added a silkiness to the taste and finish that was otherwise lacking.  I shouldn't be suprised.

Mrsdavidandrose will be purchasing several more later this week, kicking herself in the ass for not having done so years earlier....especially since she works at willliams-sonoma and can approach the pricing levels before Reidel took ownership of Spiegelau a year or two back.  Also, if anyone has insight, I'm unable to find anyone other than Reidel making Syrah stems, with the exception of Stolzle, and the photo of their glass looked much more like a cab glass than a syrah glass.

Cheers!!

Have the Bourdeaux, Burg, Montrachet, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, but haven't tried the Syrah or Zin stems yet. I have been curious about the difference they might make. After reading your post, I'm going to order a few of each...

I am wondering what I should do with that lovely Lenox wedding crystal that I never use.

I can't tell you how many times Ive looked on ebay to see if its worth selling our Orrefors wedding crystal, and they fetch so little if/when they even show a sale that we just keep them for water glasses, and let our kids use them for their drinks when we eat in the formal dining room 1-2 times/month.

We have Baccarat glasses from our wedding where we use the red wine glasses to drink Sauternes. I think the white wine glasses for the set are six ounces or something like that. High-end shot glasses anyone?

I recommend both. I was introduced to the somewhat small Riedel zin glass a couple years ago in a local restaurant and did a side by side test against the cabernet glass with a Martinelli zin. Amazing difference, bought a set the next week.

The Riedel zin glass is also used for riesling/sauv blanc which I find interesting

I personally use the Riedel Vinum Syrah glass over the Bordeaux and also use and love the Riesling/Sangiovese/Zin glass.


I just received a Zalto Denk Art white wine glass courtesy of Emily Weissman of Winemongers (she used to post here). $50+ plus glass and all we had to do was pay shipping and packaging ($7). Anyway, it took me a second to get used to the look of the glass and also how thin the stem is. I have used it a number of times over the last few days and I think this will be replacing my Riedel Riesling glass. I really like the aromatics out of this glass. I want to get the champagne glass as I have heard so many great things about it, and I am not fully happy with the Riedel Prestige Cuvee flutes I have.

 May I suggest the Schott Zwiesel Diva.  They are beautiful and sturdy.  I have Riedels, but I love my Schotts.