SPIEGELAU Authentis

Two questions help: what are you drinking, and do you want a stem or not. For red wine, 65 cl is the bordeaux size and 70 cl the burgundy size, the latter deliberately rounder. White wine fits in 36 or 42 cl, rosé and light red in 48 cl. If you prefer drinking without a stem, choose the Casual tumbler, which comes in four sizes: 42 cl as M, 46 cl as L, 62.5 cl as XL and 63 cl as XXL. The last two are generous enough for red wine and stand steady on an outdoor table. The wider selection is under tumbler glasses.

Pour a wine bowl up to the widest point and no further. With the 70 cl burgundy that leaves plenty of air, which is the intention: the aroma gathers in that space. Fill the 19 and 27 cl flutes at an angle along the wall, so the bubbles do not disappear all at once. Use the 17 cl liqueur glass for limoncello or grappa, straight from the freezer. With a young red wine, decant into the 1 litre decanter first and only then pour into the glass.

Authentis is machine-drawn from lead-free crystal glass with a seamless transition between bowl and stem. That transition is usually the weak point of a wine glass, and here there is no join at all. The glasses are dishwasher safe if you place them apart from one another and choose a low-temperature programme. For the narrow 19 cl flutes, a glass brush gets further than a cloth.

If you are looking for something else within the same brand, all the ranges are under Spiegelau. The overview by shape starts at wine glasses, and for a bottle that needs air there are decanters. The flutes tie in with the champagne flute glasses. Want to know what can go in such a flute: the method for a Mimosa and a Sgroppino is set out step by step.