The 8 Best Wine Glasses in 2023

What to Look for in Wine Glasses

Bowl Size

Depending on your reasons for buying glassware, you need to think about the size of the bowl. If you’re more of a red wine drinker, you’ll need a bigger bowl to properly swirl and aerate the wine and a smaller bowl for white wines. The actual height of the glass is something to think about, too. How does the glass feel in your hand? You don’t want it to feel too small or too big. 

Weight

Think about the weight of wine glasses as well. You don't want your wine glass to feel too heavy or too light. Although a light, delicate glass may enhance the flavors of the wines, you may be too nervous to drink from it for fear of breaking it as soon as you pick it up.

Rim

The rim of the glass, where your mouth makes contact with the wine, can enhance or detract from your enjoyment. Typically you want a thin rim, so there is less glass between your mouth and the wine when you take your first sip. Glasses made from crystal tend to have the thinnest rims because crystal is stronger than glass; the rim can be made pretty thin and delicate without breaking.  

Care

Nowadays, you can purchase fine stemware that is dishwasher safe. If you don’t want to stand at the sink washing 20 glasses by hand after a dinner party, make sure you are mindful of this when selecting your wine glasses.

FAQs

How do you properly hold a wine glass?

You always want to hold a wine glass by the stem or by the base. Grabbing by the bowl may seem easier or more natural, but your hand heats the wine in the glass, which could change the temperature and flavor of the wine. 

What's the best way to clean a wine glass?

When cleaning a wine glass, be gentle. Focus on the outside and rim of the glass where fingerprints and lipstick residue may be present. If you have a brush, use that for the inside or put a little warm water and dish detergent inside the glass and swirl it around. Be sure to hold the glass, buy the bowl this time, low in the sink when washing. Holding by just the stem and the twisting movements during washing could snap that stem right off.

How many ounces are in a standard glass of wine?

There are 5 ounces in a standard pour of wine.

What's the best way to store wine glasses?

The best way to store a wine glass is with the rim side up. The rims of wine glasses are the most delicate part of the glass, and you want to prevent the weight of the glass from resting on this part.

How We Researched & Tested

To compile this list, our team of editors and contributors spent hours researching the best products on the market in this category, evaluating their key features—like ease of use, material, or price—in addition to reviews from customers and other trusted sources. Our team also incorporated their own personal experiences testing products in their own lives. We then used these insights from our research and testing to assign a star rating from one to five (five being the best; one being the worst) to certain products on the list.

Why Trust The Spruce Eats?

Tanisha Townsend holds the WSET Level 3 Certification and is a Certified Specialist of Wine and Certified Specialist of Spirits through the Society of Wine Educators. She has been teaching people how to swirl and sniff wine in glasses for over a decade. In doing so, she’s learned the best glasses for each wine to enhance flavor—and look good while doing it. But more importantly, she can wash a wine glass without breaking it.

This piece was updated by Jesse Porter, a longtime sommelier and wine writer whose glassware collection has grown substantially in the past decade due to his gradual acquiescence to the idea that the practice of swigging wine directly from the bottle, while perhaps displaying the maximum degree of unbridled devotion to the hedonistic appreciation of the yields of the vine, is less than optimal vis-a-vis the practice of thorough and critical evaluation.