Destemmed. In our search for mini and space saving we remembered the Riedel "O" series, in which the famous glassmaker decided to de-stem their glasses, save space and lower the price all at once. Created by Maximilian Riedel (11th generation), these "tumblers" employ the same shape as their well known Vinum collection. Available in all of these places for @ $35 for 4 glasses.
We haven't used these contemporary oddities, but if we didn't hang our stems from the ceiling, we would head in this direction quickly. MGR
but where do you put the dorky wine tags without a stem???
We had dinner at Bistro St. Mark's on Flatbush Ave. last week and our wine was served in these glasses. I found them to be cumbersome and fragile. I was drinking red and my husband white, and the first thing I thought was his hand would alter the temperature of his wine.
I'm not the most knowledgeable clown in NYC, but doesn't a wine glass need a stem so that the drinker's hands don't hold the bowl, affecting the temperature of the contents?
The NYT stlyes section a few years ago had a little piece on a guy who preferred the traditional wide champagne bowl over the flute, in part becuase he hated the whole "a flute helps to retain the effervescent bubbliness of the champagne" argument.. he knocked it down precisely because champagne is not to be slowly savored but should be drunk in the celebratory spirit in which it's frequently served... The bubbles are as ephemeral and fleeting as life itself and should be consumed with relish (not the LITERAL relish, duhhh).
SO... back to these glasses... that champagne argument does not really apply for the opposite reasons... wine is often something that should be contemplated and drunk casually over dinner, with h'ors doeurves, with a book, whatever. The vessel it's being drunk from should have some stem or base to be held from so as not to accelerate the temperature change that a warm hand on the bowl would produce.
I say these Riedel glasses are just deceptively bad design items... posing as seductive novelties.
I think the design works for reds, where the temperature of the hand is often intended to interact with the wine, but share your concern about these working for wines best served chilled.
Me, I prefer the champagne flute to the bowl, simply because it's too easy to spill from the bowl kind, especially after one-too-many bowls. But LOVE that guy's rationale.
And say, who IS the most knowledgeable clown in NYC? ;)
Exactly. How in the world are you supposed to not spill this glass?
If these are really space saving, what is the most efficeint way to store them? I can't imagine stacking them in a cabinet. Wouldn't a stem actually facilitate storage (e.g., under the cabinet slotted rack)?
All I know is that if you look at the reviews for this on Amazon, everyone raves non-stop about how these glasses make the wine taste so much better. I'm not sure I ever read the reviews for the white wine glasses (because I would buy the reds first, since I drink more red) but maybe someone addresses the temperature issue. People LOVE these glasses, though I sometimes wonder if it's because Riedel is so trendy right now. (I've never used a Riedel wine glass, so maybe all the buzz is totally justified, but I'm always skeptical.)
Well, since the bowl is the same as the stemmed version, they shouldn't cause the liquid to "slop" out any easier. Also, even though the flat bottom appears smaller than a standard glass, they should be harder to knock over, due to the significantly lower center of gravity.
Not unless the bottom of the glass is weighted with thicker glass, which does not appear to be the case in the photograph. Unless this is the case, the nearly spherical bottom would tend to act like a ball and roll, I would think.
these glasses are the weebles of the wine world!
I have these glasses and like them. They're not absolutely amazing or worth searching out, but they don't roll or tip over (the bottom of the glass is indeed flat, not spherical, and it's a bit thicker than the bowl of the glass); they're easy to hold; and if there's an adverse effect on wine temperature, it's not significant enough to be noticeable. To sum up, don't knock it till you try it.
I second Jen's statement. We have gotten appreciative responses to serving our friends wine in these glasses. And they are fairly cheap compaired to Riedel's other stems. My main concern is that they very quickly show fingerprints and smudges unlike a stem which remains very pristine looking all night long.
jon--
I was actually refering to Paul's post-- a sidebar about flute versus that shallow-birdbath of a"bowl" style for champagne.
I agree with you that the issue with these no-stem beauties here is not about slopping your cabernet.
I have some of these glasses and enjoy them very much. While they have not replaced my other Riedel stems for more serious tasting, they are wonderful at the dinner table (no tall glasses in the way), or when casually enjoy a bottle. The low center of gravity combined with sloping sides makes them nearly impossible to tip over. As for the temperature being affected by holding the bowl, I am sure it is to some degree, but again, it is a rare occasion when a glass of vino lasts long enough here to notice! All in all, I have found them a very pleasing addition to my collection of stems.
I have some of these glasses and enjoy them very much. While they have not replaced my other Riedel stems for more serious tasting, they are wonderful at the dinner table, (no tall glasses in the way) or when casually enjoying a bottle. The low center of gravity combined with sloping sides makes them nearly impossible to tip over.
As for the temperature being affected by holding the bowl, I am sure it is to some degree, but again, it is a rare occasion when a glass of vino lasts long enough here to be affected! All in all, I have found them a very pleasing addition to my collection of stems.
I have a pair of these and I love them. I use them for everything. Ice sounds great in them.