[yogi]

Here is an article from the "30 Second Wine Advisor". I gotten their weekly free e-mail for a couple of years now. They often have very interesting comments and information. I 've posted several in the past and many members of this forum have enjoyed them. It's been worth my time to to subscribe. I scan it every week and sometimes like this week it's real interesting and other weeks...so what.
I like these folks.
Yogi

DOES A WINE GLASS NEED A STEM?

Certain topics are almost certain to start a joyous debate among wine
enthusiasts: Are screwcaps better than cork? Is Robert M. Parker Jr.'s
influence on the wine industry good or evil? Can mega-corporate industrial
producers ever make great wine?

But who ever thought wine lovers could get so worked up over such the
seemingly small matter of whether your wine glass needs a stem? Since I
wrote about the Riedel "O" series of fine but stem-free wine glasses in
Standing O in the Feb. 23, 2005 Wine Advisor, the archived article has
become one of my most frequent topics for E-mail questions.

Just about everyone has an opinion, and it's usually a vivid one, ranging
from "glasses without stems are just plain tacky" at one end to "only wine
snobs care if the glass has a stem" on the other.

Pro-stem fundamentalists cite long-standing tradition, and add that the
stem keeps your hand from warming the wine in the glass and avoids smearing
the bowl with greasy fingerprints. Anti-stem radicals argue that simple
tumblers are good enough for trattoria and taverna, where wine-loving
revelers understand that the purpose of the vessel is nothing more than to
convey the precious fluid from bottle to mouth. Add wine-geek points to the
Riedel O, they say, for turning the modest tumbler into something much more
worthy for fine wine: An elegant crystal vessel with a properly shaped
bowl, rendered casual and portable by the deletion of the fragile stem.

Just for fun, I've opened a simple poll on one of our WineLovers Discussion
Group forums, inviting you to cast a simple up-or-down, yes-or-no vote on
the question, "Does a wine glass need a stem?" Here's a link to the ballot:
http://www.winelover...topic.php?t=251
Once you've cast your vote, I hope you'll stick around the forum to add a
comment or two about your preference.

[Jay-CastleRock]

Just like any other tasting glass I think they have their place. Sometimes I want a huge globe, other times something a bit more narrow, and then sometimes the good ol' jelly jar hits the spot.

The "O" glass is just that. You pick it up and go "OOoo." You spend about 5 minutes trying to figure out how to hold it and then just say screw it and grab it like your favorite scotch glass. Are they worth the Riedel name for a tumbler, ummmm not.

[Nanook37]

I have 4 of the Riedel O Cab/Merlot glasses that I received as a present - I like them but they are too exspensive of a tumbler.... I also have 6 red and 4 white fake O glasses that I got at Target on clearance last year for a buck a glass. These have become my everyday glasses to use - I love them, if you are a klutz like me they are much better to use.

[fernvally]

Here is what we use day in day out. Kind of tells me something. Shot of a table in our kitchen.

Fernando

Attached File(s)

•  stemless.jpg (178.16K)
  Number of downloads: 68

[shoelesst]

I believe presentation means a lot. Coffee from a clear glass tastes different that a ceramic mug - it's not true, but it somehow feels different. Drinking wine in a regular glass you may drink water out of feels different in the brain and hence, the mouth.
The glass should fit the drink. To me, the O glass is elegant and wine would taste fine coming out of it.

[Bubba]

I always use a 'rocks' or short 'hiball' glass...no stems for me.

Bubba

[stevec]

I use whatever glassware is clean at the time.

Steve

[WineyDog]

. . .  DOES A WINE GLASS NEED A STEM? . . . .

Of course a wine glass needs a stem; if it didn’t have a stem, it wouldn’t be called a wineglass.

I normally don’t grasp the wine glass by the stem solely to avoid smearing, heating, or otherwise obfuscating the characteristics of the wine.

I usually just hold the top part of the glass with my thumb and middle finger and/or index finger. The stem and base provide the proper counterweight (unlike a plastic cup) to keep me from spilling the wine on myself as I’m swishing, swirling, sniffing, and tasting the wine.

[Psyguy]

Of course a wine glass needs a stem; if it didn’t have a stem, it wouldn’t be called a wineglass. 

Yes, but if you look up the definition of wineglass at Dictionary.com, you'll see they're defintion is "A glass, usually with a stem, from which wine is drunk" (technically could be a stein if you drink wine from it ).

[Jay-CastleRock]

could be a stein if you drink wine from it ).

And then you would be Albert Wine-stein

[slonaker]

I'm impressed! Y'all really use a glass???

[Wino Nouveau]

When I lived in California, I would eat at a Basque restaurant that I realy liked. They served a bottle of wine (from a local winery) along with what looked like small water glasses. Different but still very good. Made me feel like i was sheep herder in Europe!

[james canon]

Here is an article from the "30 Second Wine Advisor". I gotten their weekly free e-mail for a couple of years now. They often have very interesting comments and information. I 've posted several in the past and many members of this forum have enjoyed them. It's been worth my time to to subscribe. I scan it every week and sometimes like this week it's real interesting and other weeks...so what.
I like these folks.
Yogi

DOES A WINE GLASS NEED A STEM?

Certain topics are almost certain to start a joyous debate among wine
enthusiasts: Are screwcaps better than cork? Is Robert M. Parker Jr.'s
influence on the wine industry good or evil? Can mega-corporate industrial
producers ever make great wine?

But who ever thought wine lovers could get so worked up over such the
seemingly small matter of whether your wine glass needs a stem? Since I
wrote about the Riedel "O" series of fine but stem-free wine glasses in
Standing O in the Feb. 23, 2005 Wine Advisor, the archived article has
become one of my most frequent topics for E-mail questions.

Just about everyone has an opinion, and it's usually a vivid one, ranging
from "glasses without stems are just plain tacky" at one end to "only wine
snobs care if the glass has a stem" on the other.

Pro-stem fundamentalists cite long-standing tradition, and add that the
stem keeps your hand from warming the wine in the glass and avoids smearing
the bowl with greasy fingerprints. Anti-stem radicals argue that simple
tumblers are good enough for trattoria and taverna, where wine-loving
revelers understand that the purpose of the vessel is nothing more than to
convey the precious fluid from bottle to mouth. Add wine-geek points to the
Riedel O, they say, for turning the modest tumbler into something much more
worthy for fine wine: An elegant crystal vessel with a properly shaped
bowl, rendered casual and portable by the deletion of the fragile stem.

Just for fun, I've opened a simple poll on one of our WineLovers Discussion
Group forums, inviting you to cast a simple up-or-down, yes-or-no vote on
the question, "Does a wine glass need a stem?" Here's a link to the ballot:
http://www.winelover...topic.php?t=251
Once you've cast your vote, I hope you'll stick around the forum to add a
comment or two about your preference.

Really it's been a most heated topic of now a days.......and i also heard about it from somewhere....
in terms of my case i have use stem wine glasses because concerned to cleaning issues that will be fine and easy....!

[PEL]

I always use a 'rocks' or short 'hiball' glass...no stems for me.

Bubba

who needs glassware? Sometimes I really like the plastic cocktail glasses

[naper wine guy]

I would have assumed the shape of the bowl, based on the particular wine being served in that glass - or the material of the glass itself, and the influences of said material on the taste of the wine, would be of greater debate than whether or not it also included a stem or not. For me, in most instances, the wine is not held in the glass long enough for my hand warming to noticably alter or heat the contents. Guess I like drinking the wine more than sitting around with a glass full of the stuff debating the benefits or lack there of, of a stem.