My wife and I are in Bordeaux for five months to attend the CAFA Wine School (see my post, “Wine School in Bordeaux: Firsthand Advice”). At school, we sample a lot of wines. Sometimes upwards of 16 classes a day. For comparative tastings or judging, the “SPIEGELAU Special Glasses Expert Tasting” is a workhorse. These machine-made crystalline glasses are perfect for tasting and evaluating wines. They are also easy to clean and durable, so I don’t worry about breaking them.
Additionally, they are suitable for enjoying everyday wines at home. However, for that special bottle of wine, particularly Bordeaux wines, since we are currently in Bordeaux, we prefer to use the Zalto glasses.
According to its website, the Zalto DENK’ART series glasses are handcrafted. It takes eight people to make one glass. The glasses are created freehand, except for the bowl, which is blown into a mold. Zalto glasses are elegant works of art. They are a pleasure to hold and feature a rim that feels almost invisible to the lips, enhancing the overall wine-drinking experience. Zalto offers a glass for major wines and the “UNIVERSAL,” a catch-all that works well across all wines. For Bordeaux wines, we use the Zalto “BORDEAUX” glass pictured above.