lasses, in a sense, are the ultimate tools of the sommelier's trade. They should be carefully chosen, first of all for function but also for effect, to fit the setting or the occasion.
To say that a fine wine loses something if served in a tumbler or plastic cup isn't just an example of snobbery. Those vessels lack the form, size and visual and tactile qualities that allow wine to express its sensorial best. On the other hand, a common wine will still taste common, or worse, if served in crystal stemware or a silver chalice.
Glasses vary to extremes in design, reflecting the endless theories and ongoing debates over which is right for each type of wine.
Most table wines can be served in glasses of the familiar chalice or tulip type, slightly closed at the top. Their rounded forms maintain aromas and their stems allow them to be held so that the hand neither impedes vision of the wine nor warms it.
Such glasses may vary dramatically in size and shape as well as in quality. But whether they are made of ordinary glass or the finest crystal, experts tend to prefer perfectly transparent glasses untinted and with a minimum of etching or design. Drinking vessels made of metals, crockery or other materials have been largely dismissed as folkloric.
