Can special wine glasses really enhance ones experience, and can they be acquired without great expense?
Yes and yes. A relatively capacious, well-balanced glass with a thin brim will handle better and offer more aroma and flavor than the principal alternatives. Cheap wine glasses with rolled lips are often too small to hold aromas from the wine or, when larger, are absurdly top-heavy. Expensive cut glass goblets are usually even worse in terms of balance and thickness at the lip. High performance wine glasses can be expensive but need not be. My current favorites (which I use for serious tasting as well as entertaining guests) are the Chardonnay and Chianti glasses from Spiegelau, which sell for a mere $9.50 and $10 per stem, respectively. They are typically sold in sets of six. Can I get my wines to the right temperature for optimal drinking without messing with those dopey sommelier thermometers? Yes, please. Millions of bottles are compromised in America every year by being served at improper temperatures, which almost always means that whites are too cold and reds too warm. This is e
