Stemless Wine Glasses

[JPW]

stemless wine glasses (which I'm slowly, grudgingly, coming to terms with)

NOOOOOOO!!!!!! Those things are the devil's boogers!

[jparrott]

NOOOOOOO!!!!!! Those things are the devil's boogers!

I disagree...IF the lower breakage rate contributes to the ability to offer useful wines at useful prices (see 2Amys).

[Waitman]

NOOOOOOO!!!!!! Those things are the devil's boogers!

I disagree...IF the lower breakage rate contributes to the ability to offer useful wines at useful prices (see 2Amys).

It seems hard to picture a restaurant with a reasonable relationship between the price of their wine and the quality of their stemwear where the staff is so inept that breakage (or the different breakage rates between traditional and stemless) significantly affects the wine prices.

I always assumed that the 2 Amy's tumblers were just part of their "hey, no pretense here, just a pizzaria" attitude and their enlightened paysanne wine list, rather than some breakage thing. Were I served a bottle of wine costing more than, say, $35, in a stemless glass -- ie, a rocks glass -- I would be miffed.

Edited to admit that I am not all-knowing. It was hard for me.

[Dave Pressley]

I cannot, under any circumstances, picture a restaurant with a reasonable relationship between the price of their wine and the quality of their stemwear where the staff is so inept that breakage (or the different breakage rates between traditional and stemless) significantly affects the wine prices.

There's a pretty significant difference in breakage rates between stemmed and stemless glassware. Stemmed glassware most often breaks at some point either where the stem meets the bowl or where it meets the foot of the glass, most often when being polished by the staff. It most certainly is factored into wine pricing but not by a significant amount.

For the record, I used to be enamored with the stemless glasses (Tallula was the first restaurant in the area that I know of that used the stemless Reidels) by have since just become disenchanted with them. I have no problem drinking my wine out of jelly jars, though. I have no idea why.

[Waitman]

There's a pretty significant difference in breakage rates between stemmed and stemless glassware. Stemmed glassware most often breaks at some point either where the stem meets the bowl or where it meets the foot of the glass, most often when being polished by the staff. It most certainly is factored into wine pricing but not by a significant amount.

For the record, I used to be enamored with the stemless glasses (Tallula was the first restaurant in the area that I know of that used the stemless Reidels) by have since just become disenchanted with them. I have no problem drinking my wine out of jelly jars, though. I have no idea why.

I admit as much (and please note that I retracted the "under any circumstances" attitude as being asinine, even for me). But -- and I am genuinely curious -- how many glasses are broken a week, as compared to the volume of wine sold? I admit that I've only been the waiter/busboy/diswasher* breaking the glasses and never the manager accounting for the damage, but it seems relatively small.

*On my first day, at my first job at Per Bacco!, the restaurant that preceeded Clyde's of Columbia in that space and in which I had my first escargot and first onion soup, I mis-stacked a pile of glass racks in my haste to get out of the weeds as dishwasher, and probably smashed 24 glasses at once.

[Pool Boy]

I got two stemless wine glasses 'free' when I bought something else a while back (can't remember what). I was going to re-gift them to someone but decided that I'd try them one night (when ALL of the other steware was dirty - oh the horror!) and they are not horrid. They are actually very convenient for a midweek quaff and are so easy to clean. I am no convert and am not about to go stemless for all of my glasses, but they aren't half bad. I thought they would be lousy.

[brettashley01]

Personally, I love my stemless glasses. Much less chance of breaking than my good stemware. I seriously don't see what people have against them... Throw em in the dishwasher w/out worry.

[hillvalley]

Can't stand them. I have very small hands (I can just reach an octave) and I am always nervous using these glasses. Their shape makes it hard to feel like I have a secure grasp. The fact that my grasp is less reliable with each refill does not help either.

Question about stemless, and maybe I am over thinking this, but does the heat from your hand warm the glass and therefore play with the wine temp?

[dmwine]

Question about stemless, and maybe I am over thinking this, but does the heat from your hand warm the glass and therefore play with the wine temp?

Potentially, yes. Your fingerprints can also smear the glass and make it harder to appreciate the visuals. Wine geeks use all seven senses in wine appreciation, after all.

[Heather]

For the record, I used to be enamored with the stemless glasses (Tallula was the first restaurant in the area that I know of that used the stemless Reidels) by have since just become disenchanted with them. I have no problem drinking my wine out of jelly jars, though. I have no idea why.

I use my canning jars, or my little French bistro tumblers as "stemless" wine glasses as they are much harder to knock over.

Also, if you drink fast enough, altering the temperature isn't an issue.

[Waitman]

There's a pretty significant difference in breakage rates between stemmed and stemless glassware. Stemmed glassware most often breaks at some point either where the stem meets the bowl or where it meets the foot of the glass, most often when being polished by the staff. It most certainly is factored into wine pricing but not by a significant amount.

For the record, I used to be enamored with the stemless glasses (Tallula was the first restaurant in the area that I know of that used the stemless Reidels) by have since just become disenchanted with them. I have no problem drinking my wine out of jelly jars, though. I have no idea why.

I use my canning jars, or my little French bistro tumblers as "stemless" wine glasses as they are much harder to knock over.

Also, if you drink fast enough, altering the temperature isn't an issue.

I think there's some inexact point at which the quality of the wine plus the dignity of the occasion means that jelly jars and/or tumblers (Chez Waitman, we also use the mason jars that Buster's shucked oysters and certain pretentious salad dressings come in) are no longer appropriate. I guess if the wine is good enough that you'll actually swirl and sniff and inspect the stuff, and drink slowly enough that your hand will warm the wine, you want a real glass. And, in that case, even faddish Reidel's (aka 'rocks glasses") won't do ("how's the legs on that Zin, boy?" "Don't know, all I can see are my fingers"). Similarly, even if it's just a bottle of cheap Malbec, but it's Sunday dinner with flowers and candles, you might want to get out the stemware.

On the other hand, when drinking with down home folks who distrust anything more sophisticated than Budweiser, pulling out the jelly jars goes a long way towards easing them over to our side.

[DameEdna]

Someday I will hear some server, in all seriousness say "our sommelier recommends the stemless stemware." I will plotz.

[jglassman]

They fit in my Cabinet.

[KMango]

They fit in my Cabinet.

And they're multi-use!

[plunk]

...and, when placed on a coffee table, are much more resistant to a wagging tail of a Golden Retriever.

[DonRocks]

... and, I'm drinking a Roero Arneis out of one right now so Matt might think I'm drinking water (although he bought me these glasses as a gift, so probably naive on my part).

[Mark Slater]

"Stemless wine glass" is an oxymoron in my book.

[dcs]

I use my canning jars, or my little French bistro tumblers as "stemless" wine glasses as they are much harder to knock over.

If it is a spill you fear, how about this handy-dandy stemless wine glass from Super-Duper-Studio.

[Pool Boy]

"Stemless wine glass" is an oxymoron in my book.

Well I agree with you mostly. That said, I use some stemless glasses from time to time for a weeknight meal when all of the other stems are still, er, dirty.