Bormioli Rocco Aurum

The capacity tells you what each glass is meant for. The 35 cl wine glass is the compact bowl for crisp white wine: you pour small, drink on, and the wine has no time to warm up. The 43 cl is the all-rounder that handles both white and light red. The 52 cl is the roomy bowl for robust red wine, filled to a third at most so the aroma can gather. The 23 cl flute keeps the bubbles together and the 37 cl tumbler is there for water and spirits over ice. The red wine glasses and white wine glasses show the sizes from other series side by side.

Pour white wine to a third of the bowl and red wine to just below the widest point: that leaves enough surface for the aroma to open up and enough room to swirl. Champagne goes into the flute in two goes, otherwise the head runs over the rim. Hold every bowl by the stem, because a hand around the body warms the wine quickly. The 37 cl tumbler suits a negroni over one large ice cube, and for the aperitif a champagne cocktail works well in the flute.

Crystalline glass owes its clarity to barium and zinc oxides rather than lead, which is why it can go straight into the dishwasher. Choose a lower-temperature programme, stand the bowls upright so they do not touch, and use rinse aid against limescale film. The stem is the vulnerable part: when unloading, pick the glass up by the foot and not by the bowl, because that is where the twisting starts that breaks stems.

If you want a roomier bowl that takes any red wine, the large wine glasses category offers more choice in shape and capacity. To stay with the same brand, the complete range is with Bormioli Rocco. For separate sparkling wine glasses, look at the champagne flute glasses, and to keep an opened bottle in good shape there are wine stoppers. If this series feels too refined for everyday use, thicker-walled glassware from the same house is a more practical starting point.