It is not so much a matter of using the right wine glass as it is of using the most suitable one. I am at a loss to understand the reason for so many shapes and sizes, which range from a pudding basin on a short stem to a saucer on a single stilt. Who designs them and who the devil buys them? Surely not the people who will be using them. I rather fancy that designers of glasses design them for a certain type of woman, knowing that if they design something elaborate and quite useless it will sell. This need not reflect upon my lady readers because if they are making wines or if wine is being made in their homes, they are too down to earth to have their fancies titillated by something stupidly incongruous. Rather, they will be interested to learn how to serve their wine in a manner that will do it justice, while at the same time enhancing its beauty.

Decorated glasses in a variety of shapes serve no real purpose other than to look nice in the glass cabinet; here we need concern ourselves with one type of wine glass which is suitable for almost all wines. The glass shown in Figure 3 will disappoint most people, yet it is the best wine glass to use.

Choose a thin wine glass so that if you want to warm the wine the palms of your hands will do this readily enough. The stem is there for you to hold in case you want the wine to remain cool. The bowl-shape, curving slightly inwards towards the lip, enables the bouquet to collect for your enjoyment. The thin clear wine glass enables you to enjoy the colours of the wine, and you'll be surprised how many there are in each wine if you care to look for them.

It is essential that glasses be dry, spotlessly clean and brightly polished before use. And equally important is that they be filled to a suitable level.

It is surprising how many people fear being dubbed a miser if they do not fill a wine glass so that the slightest movement results in a stained suit or ruined dress. A glass three parts full is usually too full see sketch on this page. Remember that you are serving your wines, wines that you have taken pride and pains to produce; then why not serve them in a manner that will do them justice?

Figure 3. The ideal wine glass showing the correct levels to which different types of wines should be filled.

It is surprising that few people know how to get the best from the wine they have made. Too many are content to 'knock it back' without further ado, while others sip and murmur their appreciation.

Few, very few indeed, ever think of taking a biscuit or a bit of bread and cheese with it. Yet the combination of unsweetened biscuit or cream cracker with a few sips of wine from a beautiful wine glass is something you are not likely to forget for a long time, and which will become a regular habit once you have tried. I cannot explain the reason, but I assure you that the best wine is superb this way and even a poor wine greatly improved. Try it, and see for yourself.