Pasabahce Palomino

The 44.5 cl wine glass is the largest of the three and the shape you reach for with red wine. There is room enough to pour to just under half and let the wine move, without the glass taking over the table.

The 35 cl wine glass is more compact and intended for white wine, which you pour in smaller amounts so it stays cool. The 15 cl champagne flute is deliberately small: that is roughly a standard glass of sparkling wine, so the foam does not collapse before the glass is empty.

At a crowded table the short stem is the real advantage. You grip the glass higher up, it topples less easily and it fits under a standard glass rack. Do not fill the 35 cl glass beyond half full and top up twice instead, because white wine warms quickly in a small glass.

The 15 cl flute is the size for a toast or for a kir royal with a little cassis in the bottom. A bellini with peach purée also works well in this format: the glass is narrow enough to hold the bubbles and to keep the purée from sinking.

Palomino is made of tempered soda-lime glass, which means the bowl and the rim take more knocks than ordinary glass. That is why this range turns up so often in canteens and club bars, where glasses go through the washer every day.

Stand the glasses upright in the basket and do not let the bowls touch. When drying, turn the cloth inside the glass and hold the bowl rather than the foot, because a twisting movement on the stem is where stemmed glasses break most often. With hard water, a final rinse helps against a limescale haze.

Other ranges from the same brand sit under Pasabahce. If you are searching by shape, the full choice is gathered under wine glasses, with a separate entry for red wine glasses if you mostly pour red. The narrow models for sparkling wine sit under champagne flutes. For the short glasses that come to the table alongside the beer or the wine, there are the shot glasses.