The Best Wine Glasses for All Occasions

There are a few signs that mark one’s arrival to adulthood, and owning a set of proper wine glasses is one of them. While we’ve all certainly drunk wine from a juice glass or coffee mug — or straight out of the bottle — from time to time, there’s no beating the proper experience of sipping and savoring wine the way it was intended from an actual wine glass.

But knowing where to start when buying said wine glasses can be an intimidating prospect. There are a dizzying number of options available, as even a cursory glance at the product landscape will show that wine glasses exist for not only any conceivable situation but also for basically every specific type of wine. And although the average person probably doesn’t need 20 different varietal-specific glasses, you don’t have to be a sommelier to want at least a couple of high-quality wine glasses in your cabinet.

What to Look for in a Wine Glass

There’s a reason we don’t just drink wine out of a pint glass (or rather, why we shouldn’t). Wine glasses are specialized for drinking wine, and as such, they are made up of several components that optimize the experience. Below, you’ll find the most important factors to consider when buying a wine glass

The Rim

Also occasionally referred to as the lip, the rim is the top portion of the wine glass — the part that actually touches your lips when you take a drink. And when it comes to the rim of a wine glass, generally speaking, the thinner, the better. You’ll want to aim for a rim thickness below 1mm, as these whisper-thin rims create less interference between the wine and your tongue, allowing for you to better concentrate on tasting the wine itself and not the glass. The tradeoff, of course, is that thinner rims are more fragile.

The Bowl

The bowl of a wine glass is the part that holds your wine, and they come in all sorts of shapes. In general, a wider bowl leads to greater aeration, allowing the wine to “breathe,” which alters its flavor, as well as allowing for more aromas to make their way to your nose. Different types of wine require different levels of aeration and aroma, but a general rule of thumb is that red wines should have a wider bowl, white wines should have a narrower one and sparkling wines should be served in the narrowest vessels.

Stemmed vs Stemless

Traditionally, wine glasses have a stem, the long, delicate portion that you hold while drinking. The reason for this is more than providing elegant aesthetics, though stems do that too. Practically, a stem prevents you from having to hold the bowl of the glass with your hand, which can raise the temperature of the wine. The downside of a wine glass stem is that they’re the most delicate part of a wine glass, and can easily be broken off if you’re not careful. So, if you’re accident-prone, you may opt for a stemless wine glass. While they don’t offer the temperature security of a stem, they’re a lot harder to break and easier to hold onto, making them more practical for a lot of people.

Hand-Blown vs Machine-Made Glass

A glass wine glass will either be hand-blown or machine-made, with both offering their own benefits and drawbacks. Hand-blown glass is, naturally, handmade. Because of this, each piece of hand-blown glass is unique. Hand-blown wine glasses are also able to be crafted into lighter and thinner forms than machine-made glasses, making for a more beautiful glass as well as a more premium drinking experience. The downsides are that hand-blown glasses are considerably more expensive than their machine-made counterparts, and also more delicate and prone to breaking. Machine-made glasses are more durable because they’re thicker, but also because of their thickness, they suffer from having greater taste interference than hand-blown glasses.

Varietal-Specific Wine Glasses

For most people, having a universal wine glass that works decently for all types of wine — or, at most, separate generic red and white wine glasses — will be just fine. But if you’re an aspiring sommelier or just really want the best experience for each of your preferred types of wine, then you may consider varietal-specific glasses. These are wine glasses that are tailored to specific grape varieties — e.g, Chardonnay or Pinot Noir — offering the ultimate drinking experience for nearly every style of wine. Once the domain of sommeliers only, varietal-specific glasses have gone more mainstream in recent decades, thanks largely to Riedel’s Vinum line that brought the first machine-made varietal-specific glasses to the masses in the 1980s.

Amazon

Best Universal Wine Glass

Gabriel-Glas StandArt Universal Wine Glass

• $35.00 at Amazon

If you want to save yourself a lot of trouble and pick up one wine glass that works great for basically everything, then you can’t go wrong with Austrian Gabriel-Glas’ universal wonder. One of our senior editors first came across this glass after noticing that most of his favorite tasting rooms on a Northern California winery tour used the exact same serving vessel. Here’s what he has to say about it:

“The light Austrian crystal glasses, made by Gabriel-Glas, were such a pleasure to use, I picked up a set for use at home. Gabriel-Glas produces two models — the machine-molded Stand’Art Edition and the mouth-blown Gold Edition — in the same shape, meant to be used with any style of wine. Designed by Swiss wine critic Rene Gabriel, the glass concentrates the aromas of any wine and helps express the nuances of each varietal. The seamless, one-piece design has no stress points and is dishwasher-safe. It’s an incredible quality glass for the price, and it’s durable enough for tasting-room use. It’s a joy to use with sparkling wines, full-bodied reds, chilled whites, sakes and more.” — John Zientek, Senior Editor

Amazon

Best Budget Wine Glass

Libbey Signature Kentfield Estate All-Purpose Wine Glasses

• $40.00 at Amazon
  $50.00 (20% off)

You don’t always have to spend a ton of money on a set of wine glasses to get a decent drinking experience; particularly if you’re just a casual wine drinker. For many of us, this universal set from Libbey’s Signature Series will do just fine. Priced at around 11 bucks a glass, these are made from Libbey’s proprietary ClearFire glass that’s fairly thin for machine-made glass while remaining durable with great clarity. These glasses also feature beadless, laser-cut rims that resist chipping while remaining thin.

wine enthusiast

Best Splurge Wine Glass

Zalto Denk’Art Universal Glass

• $80.00 at wineenthusiast.com

If it’s the absolute top-of-the-line you’re looking for, then there’s simply no beating Zalto’s wine glasses. A sensation the world over, Zalto’s glasses are the preferred pick of countless sommeliers and high-end restaurants thanks to their almost impossibly-thin mouth-blown composition and striking design. The only downsides to Zalto’s glasses are their prohibitive cost and runaway popularity. They’re almost impossible to find online unless you’re willing to pay exorbitant prices from unscrupulous resellers … and the truth is, many who’ve had the privilege of drinking out of a Zalto are willing to do just that.

Made In

Best Durable Wine Glass

Made In Wine Glass Set

• $119.00 at Made In
  $138.00 (14% off)

You probably know Made In through their popular collection of cookware, like their carbon steel and stainless steel frying pans. But the internet-favorite brand also offers a wide range of tableware, with their glassware being particularly impressive. Made In’s wine glasses feature a proprietary coating process that adds titanium — yes, titanium — to the stems, making them considerably more resistant to breaking or scratching than your average wine glass. The Italian-made glasses are also dishwasher-safe and come in two flavors, red and white, both of which are included in this competitively-price set of eight.

Pottery Barn

Best Red Wine Glass

Schott Zwiesel Pure Burgundy Wine Glass Single

• $15.00 at Pottery Barn

Zwiesel has been crafting crystal glass in Germany since the 1800s, so it’s safe to say their products will stand the test of time. Known for their patented Tritan crystal, which like Made In adds titanium to the glass for added strength, these glasses combine durability with a striking angular design and a varietal-specific shape that works well for Burgandy wines and other medium-bodied reds. Our tester loved the heft and feel of the crystal itself, having no qualms about whether or not the glasses will hold up through rigorous daily use. He did, however, dislike that the seams joining the different parts of the machine-blown glasses were both visible and could be felt easily, wishing that they had been polished down for a more elegant finished product.

Huckberry

Best White Wine Glass

Nude Climats White Wine Glass

• $39.00 at Huckberry

Turkish brand Nude makes all of its glassware from lead-free crystal that replaces traditional lead with alternative minerals that add strength to the glass without the harmful effects of lead. The result is a glass that maintains the beauty and thinness of traditional crystal while remaining durable enough for daily use. This glass, in particular, is meant to accommodate generic white wines with its slightly thinner rounded bowl, and it boasts a striking design courtesy of the in-house Nude Design Team. Just be careful washing these glasses, as Nude offers very specific instructions on their care, specifying everything from water temperature to water hardness level to wash cycle.

Courtesy

Best Sparkling Wine Glass

Glasvin The Champagne

• $79.00 at glas.vin

Glasvin is a young, minority-owned, New York-based DTC brand that’s doing for wine glasses what so many internet brands have done for other product categories. Making exclusively artisanal, hand-blown stemware with lower markups than we’re used to seeing, Glasvin has been rocking the wine glass industry since debuting in 2019. While best-known for their lauded Universal glass, the brand’s new sparkling wine glass — dubbed “The Champagne” — is especially exciting. While it still boasts a sleek, celebratory look for showing off bubbles, it’s a bit wider than a traditional flute to allow for a greater release of aromas.

Amazon

Best Stemless Wine Glass

Riedel O Wine Tumbler

• $50.00 at Amazon

Opting for a party-friendly stemless design doesn’t mean you need to forfeit a proper wine-drinking experience — Riedel has seen to that with their revolutionary O Wine Tumbler series. Essentially a more durable, stemless version of Riedel’s groundbreaking machine-blown Vinum line, the O Wine Tumbler glasses are available in an assortment of varietal-specific shapes. You’re really only sacrificing the stem with these, not the rest of the experience, and it’s up to you to choose what specific shape of tumbler best suits your wine-drinking preferences. This particular set includes two each of Cab- and Chardonnay-specific glasses; the generally-accepted most versatile shapes for reds and whites, respectively.

Yeti

Best Outdoor Wine Glass

Yeti Rambler Wine Tumbler

• $25.00 at Yeti

Wine snobs, look away! While we may want to always have the experience of drinking out of a hand-blown, varietal-specific wine glass, doing so isn’t always practical. That’s where Yeti’s ubiquitous Rambler Wine Tumbler comes into play. While no one is going to argue that this is the preferred vessel for enjoying a nice Shiraz (after all, you can only expect a stainless steel rim to be so thin), it works in a pinch when you need to venture into rougher terrain but still want to get your wine on. Thanks to Yeti’s trademark rugged durability and insulation, you can rest assured knowing that your wine will stay perfectly chilled and safe as you imbibe on the campsite, and our tester noted that these tumblers keep wine chilled for considerably longer than a traditional glass tumbler, all without chilling your hand. As an added bonus, the sliding magnetic lid will keep any bugs from dropping in for a sip. It won’t prevent leaks and spills, however, so don’t get too tipsy.

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