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If you are serious about wine drinking, it is nice to have a good set of white, red (Bordeaux and Burgundy style), and sparkling (Champagne) glasses.

White wine glasses

Generally, white wine glasses [find at IWA or Wine Enthusiast] are narrower than red wine glasses, although not as narrow as Champagne and sparkling wine flutes, with a tulip shape. White wine glasses are purposefully narrower so the chilled wine will stay chilled for longer. This occurs because of the reduced liquid surface area on top of the wine and the reduced surface area of the glass in contact with warm hands.

Red wine glasses: Bordeaux or Burgundy (Pinot Noir) style

Typically, red wine glasses [find at IWA or Wine Enthusiast] have a rounder, wider bowl than white wine glasses. This wider bowl leads to a larger surface area of wine at the top of the glass, which allows the wine to breathe more. Red wine glasses generally can be thought of as two types:

• Bordeaux glasses: these red wine glasses are the taller of the two red wine types, and they have a taller but still broad bowl. These glasses are generally useful for most types of red wine, especially full bodied red wines like Cabernet and Merlot.

• Burgundy (Pinot Noir) glasses: these red wine glasses are shorter and broader than the Bordeaux glasses. Burgundy red wines from France are all made with the Pinot Noir grape, which is a more delicately styled red. So the Burgundy glasses have a bigger bowl to accumulate the complex aromas. The Burgundy glasses work very well with Pinot Noirs from anywhere in the world.

Champagne and sparkling wine glasses (flutes)

Finally, Champagne or sparkling wine glasses [find at IWA or Wine Enthusiast] are often called flutes. They have a long stem, with a tall, narrow bowl. Again, the shape is all about surface area. The small amount of liquid wine surface area keeps the temperature from rising and lets a smaller amount of the bubbles escape. The small glass size means you have to use your fingertips to hold the glass, which also keeps the temperature down.

Riedel and Schott Zwiesel wine glasses

You might be saying to yourself, “This is all great information, but what brand of wine glasses should I buy?” Two great brands of wine glasses that we use are Riedel and Schott Zwiesel break-resistant glasses.

If you’re looking for a great everyday set of wine glasses, you should seriously consider the Schott Zwiesel Tritan Forte series [find at IWA or Wine Enthusiast]. By integrating titanium into their crystal glasses, the Tritan Forte series by Schott Zwiesel is incredibly break-resistant. The manufacturers claim that the glasses can stand 1000 dishwasher cycles without any damage, blemish, or loss of brilliance.

Incredibly, the Schott Zwiesel Tritan Forte series retails at only about $10 a stem. These glasses look more expensive than they are, since they hold their sheen much better than most glasses. A very nice set of Schott Zwiesel Tritan Forte glasses would include standard white, red, Pinot Noir, and sparkling glasses.

	Shop for wine refrigerators & cabinets online:
	Int. Wine Accessories	Wine Enthusiast

Besides having your own dedicated wine cellar as a room in your home, a plug-in refrigerated wine cellar is the best way to ensure your wine is properly stored. There are a wide variety of options available, which will store your wine bottles at the proper temperature of 55 degrees F and minimize light intensity. Some refrigerated wine cabinets are even stylish enough to be used as furniture.

Wine Refrigerators & Coolers

If you are looking to store up to 100s of bottles of wine, a wine refrigerator or cooler [view at IWA or Wine Enthusiast] is a good choice. These are plug-in units that keep the wine cooled, and they are made to stand alone or fit under the counter in the kitchen. Eurocave makes particularly attractive versions of these wine refrigerators. If you are looking to save some money, there are B.Y.O. (Build Your Own) versions available, too. The very best wine refrigerators and coolers will also not have excessive vibrations, which can spoil wine over time.

Refrigerated Wine Cabinets, Credenzas, & Furniture

If you want to store your wine out in the open, consider using a refrigerated wine cabinet or credenza [view at IWA or Wine Enthusiast] that is also nice as a piece of furniture. These models are not meant to built into any cabinetry, as they need a space to expel the heat in the back. The styles of these wine cabinets or credenzas range from traditional to modern, with wood finishes such as mahogany or cherry.

Refrigerated Wine Cellars

A larger option to store many bottles of wine is a refrigerated wine cellar [view at IWA or Wine Enthusiast]. Some of these units take up a lot of space and can hold as many as 500 wine bottles. The downside to something this big is that it can come with a hefty price tag. The upside is that you’ll never have to regret the 100 bottle wine refrigerator you bought when you run out of space a year later.

Home Wine Cellars

Finally, if you want to hold more than about 500 bottles, you might want to consider constructing your own home wine cellar [view at IWA or Wine Enthusiast]. There are three major components to your wine cellar: construction of the room, the refrigeration unit, and the racks that hold your wine. It is a major undertaking, and Wine Enthusiast will help you get started with your designs and even install the whole thing for you if you want.

	Shop for wine preservation options online:
	Int. Wine Accessories	Wine Enthusiast

If you would like to keep an open wine bottle for more than a day or two, there are some things that you can do to maximize your wine preservation. Re-corking a bottle of wine and putting it in the refrigerator will work for a day or two, but there are some more robust methods.

Vacu Vin wine saver systems

If you would like to keep the wine longer, consider a Vacu Vin wine saver [view at IWA or Wine Enthusiast]. This system has been around for more than a decade. If properly used, you can preserve your opened wine for up to a week. The idea is pretty simple — you just put in a Vacu-Stopper and pump the air out of the bottle with the (appropriately named) Vacu-Pump. Since the oxygen has been removed with the air from the bottle, there won’t be any spoilage due to oxidation.

Bottled argon and nitrogen

If you don’t want to use a Vacu Vin system, another easy and low cost choice is using bottled argon or nitrogen [view at IWA or Wine Enthusiast]. The basic idea is the same as with the Vacu Vin — remove oxygen from the bottle — however the method is different. Spraying the argon or nitrogen into the bottle will displace the oxygen-containing air in the bottle. To use these products, spray a two-second burst of gas into the opened wine bottle and quickly replace the cork.

EuroCave wine storage & dispensing systems

EuroCave wine storage systems [view at Wine Enthusiast] hold two bottles and will chill and preserve wine for up to 10 days. Uncorked bottles are placed inside and kept fresh with a vacuum system, so there’s nothing to replace. There are two compartments with variable temperature settings, which allows you to keep red and white bottles at different temperatures.

WineKeeper wine storage & dispensing systems

WineKeeper wine storage systems [view at Wine Enthusiast] preserve up to four to eight bottles of opened wine. As you dispense wine through the spouts, the WineKeeper keeps the bottles filled with nitrogen to prevent oxidation. As with the EuroCave system, the wine is kept at proper serving temperatures. The units come either in Mahogany or Oak facing, with a glass display door.