NUDE Glass

With this brand you choose on shape, not on decoration. For wine the range runs from 35 to 70 cl. A bowl of 35 to 45 cl keeps white wine concentrated and cool; from 57 cl upwards red wine has the room to breathe without you overfilling the glass. The Climats range, at 39 and 64 cl, is meant to be chosen by wine region, while Reserva and Refine are wider, more universal bowls.

For the bar, the difference is in the presence. The Savage line has a thick, solid foot beneath a thin bowl, visibly heavy on the table but light at the lip. The 22 cl coupe and the 17 cl coupetini are its best-known models. Big Top tumblers of 27 and 32 cl stand a little wider and are meant for water and long drinks. For grappa and eau de vie there is a small glass of around 8 cl, in which the aroma gathers without the alcohol taking over.

A thin rim calls for a steady hand. Pour up to the widest point of the bowl and no higher, because that is where the wine has the largest surface and there is still room above it for the aroma. In a 64 cl bowl that is often less than a third of the glass, which looks meagre at first but is exactly the intention.

The same goes for cocktails: the simpler the glass, the more the temperature matters. Put coupes and coupetinis in the freezer beforehand, or fill them with iced water while you stir. A dry martini should arrive ice cold and without ice cubes in the glass, while an old fashioned belongs in a heavy tumbler over one large block of ice, which melts more slowly than loose cubes. For sparkling wine the coupe works better than a narrow flute: you lose some carbonation but gain aroma, and that is precisely why a French 75 looks so at home in one.

The glass is lead-free crystal. That means the clarity and the ring of crystal are there without lead in the composition, which also makes it suitable for storing drinks for longer. Machine washing is possible, but at this wall thickness a little caution is wise: choose a cycle without a high drying temperature and place the bowls separately in the rack.

Hand washing is done in lukewarm water, holding the bowl rather than the stem. The classic mistake is to hold a glass by the foot and twist the bowl inside the cloth; that is exactly the movement that snaps stems. Let the glasses drain upside down on a cloth and polish them afterwards with a linen glass cloth, so no water marks are left.

If you want the complete overview by wine style rather than by brand, start with the wine glasses or specifically with the red wine glasses. For the sparkling wine that goes with it, see the champagne glasses. If you are after the same minimalist character in a heavier glass for whisky, that is under the whisky glasses. And if you are looking for the small glass for after dinner, the models for grappa and eau de vie are with the grappa glasses, where the glass of around 8 cl is the standard size.