chardonnay, I am one who would choose the better wine over the better glass, however, there are certain glasses (Riedel for one) that are made to enhance the taste of the wine. It's not a brand name obsession -- the wine actually tastes different in the finer glass.

Reidels are too expensive to pack for some of us. I had two glasses years ago for home, both broke.Ï'll settle for a good decent thin glass. The thicker glass wine glasses, you should avoid. Try it t home THERE IS a difference.

Because of the ease with which wine glasses can be broken, restaurants tend to stock not with Riedels but with another brand (name forgotten) that imitates the Riedels but is much cheaper.

You can have the "better" wine glasses without those high prices of Riedel glassware. Maybe someone else can remember what the other brand name is.

But, again, it is the SHAPE of the glass that Riedel is selling. We are now entering the upper atmospheres of wine connoisseurs and ole pesante me can't comment any further.

After reading these posts, I needed a glass of wine. Had some medium priced white wine in a tumbler. I spill less that way. Got hooked on tumblers in Turkey. Although I have to say, no one goes to Turkey to enjoy the wine.

a really good wine in a basic glass. We drag our two boxes of Cost Plus wine glasses to our monthly wine tastings..everything seems to taste just as good in our 6 for $7.99 glasses.
I fancy myself as someone who could own Riedel glasses but I fear their lifespan in our house would be very short!

Ben said beer, not wine.

Sort of like the question: "Would you rather serve in heaven or rule in hell?"

Definitely the better wine.

I like the comment about the straw.

~Amelie

Dick, you said "moderate bottle" vs. "really nice bottle" so I know we're not talking about Boone's Farm with the former.

If that's the case, Italy and France are the only places that I would prefer fine wine out of a tumbler. Maybe it's the ambiance, or the adventure, or maybe their dishwashing water isn't rock hard full of minerals like ours is, but in Italy and France, a tumbler is honky-dory by me.

Home, I love my beautiful wine glasses. I think of who gave them to me, or why I bought them, and because of that, I don't use basic glasses in my house to drink <i>any</i> wine.

I vote for the cheap glasses as long as they leave enough surface area to breathe and are actually made of glass so that they don't leech.

And TWO bottles of the moderate wine. ;)

Rule in Hell!

After giving this some serious thought (God, that sounds sad) I think I would go for the moderate wine in the good glass. I have a lot of practice (ahem) at this wine drinking and you really do notice a HUGE difference in the wine from the proper glass. I am not being snobby but you really do. At least the moderate wine would be at its peak. It makes me a little queasy to think of pouring a really nice wine into a basic glass. It would really kill it.

all this talk about proper glassware reminds me of a thread on chowhound about martinis. Back in the 50's, martinis were served in smaller martini glasses than today - reason, the martini would stay chilled the entire time you drank it. Nowadays - you have these gargantuan martini glasses, and by the time you're halfway through it, it's tepid. There is nothing more disgusting than a warm martini, except maybe a warm daiquiri.

As for the question ask - great bottle of wine, cheap glass.

Cigala and Rufus, I can find both beer and wine used in Ben Franklin's quote. Maybe the rascal said both - and we have yet to hear from the distillers.

Anyway, I'll tip my Orrefors to any Ben Franklin scholar who can provide the definitive answer.

Ben was known to like his wine alittle too much.

What are Riedel glasses?

Actually, if I don't know by now (early 50s) does it really matter?

Just a question: How might Riedels compare to those 2-piece plastic jobbies you get at liquor stores after forgetting to bring real ones on your picnic and when your spouse says nix to the drinking straight from the bottle. Discuss

Whatever glass holds the most icecubes :). Regards, Walter

Riedel glasses are all about being techinically efficient. How dull.

Let's have some elegant Lalique, Baccarat, Christofl&eacute;, Asprey etc. wine glasses, not some plain Riedel which are for pretetious people that require a bouquet and flavour altering glass as they are too mean to buy better wines!

m kingdom, you are a scream! do you get your butler to pour for you or do you have your own private sommelier?

But of course.