The One, new stemware from Andrea Robinson

[Fat Guy]

There has long been a trend among oenophiles toward specialization in wine stemware. Riedel, the leader of this trend, makes more than 40 different wine-glass shapes, each specifically targeted at a certain type of wine. If you don't use a glass custom-tailored to the wine you're serving, some would have us believe, the wine won't taste as good as it could. Manufacturers of wine glasses, of course, stand to benefit greatly if consumers believe this and seek out multiple sets of wine glasses, not just one for red and one for white.

Whether or not there's something to it, the reality is that it's impractical for almost anyone -- consumer or restaurant -- to keep a full array of Riedel glasses on hand. My personal solution has been to keep two sets of Spiegelau glasses in inventory -- the Bordeaux glass and the Burgundy glass -- and to use the Bordeaux glass for all my whites and the Burgundy glass for all my reds. This isn't a perfect solution but works for most wines. Were one to devise the perfect two-glass solution it would involve a much more scientific process of averaging and tasting.

Andrea Robinson (formerly Immer) recently spent three years doing just that. Robinson worked with the German glassware manufacturer Stölzle (a 200-year-old, major producer of lead-free crystal) to design The One. Or maybe it's really The Two. The idea is that she and her crystal-making counterparts have come up with just two glasses -- white and red -- that are intended to cover most any wine situation. They are pretty cool looking too:

A little while back I went to a tasting hosted by Robinson, where we tried several wines in her new stems. I suppose there are wines that fall outside the range these glasses are ideal for, but we tasted from quite a few diverse bottles and the glasses flattered everything we tried. For comparison she put out the appropriate Riedel Sommelier-series glasses for each wine. I spent a lot of time going back and forth with the two types of glasses, in part because I was trying to be diligent, in part because I need to buy new glasses soon, and in part because I never know very many people at wine events. There were subtle differences in some instances but overall I think The One performed as well as the Riedel glasses in general, better in a couple of cases, and only slightly less well in one case. Certainly I experienced nothing to justify the expense and space requirements of having more than two types of glasses.

The lips of the glasses are very thin, which I think helps -- to me the thickness of crummy wine glasses is their main drawback. The glasses are, for lack of a more creative description, crystal clear. The fairly steep slope of the sides helps collect aromas effectively. They're definitely nice to hold and drink from.

Robinson and Stölzle also added various reinforcing compounds to the crystal to make the glasses break-resistant. You can't hurl them at a brick wall, but they are more tolerant of dishwashers and getting knocked around than normal glasses. I clinked a couple of them together aggressively about a dozen times and hit one against a table pretty hard and nothing happened.

The glasses are not expensive. Through retail channels they run in the neighborhood of $10 a stem. You can get boxes of 4 right now from some Macy's stores for about 40 bucks (US). Apparently the glasses are also being sold, minus the fancy retail packaging, to the industry for closer to $5 per stem. I'll have to figure out how to tap into that supply line.

There's a lot more information on Robinson's website here.

At some point I'll try to pick up a bunch of these things so I can talk more about them.

[Tri2Cook]

Nice. I'm in the process of building and stocking a decent home bar. Something I never wanted before and I'm not rushing it now but it's getting there. I'm far from being what would be considered an oenophile but I enjoy wine now and then. Something like this seems like a good idea for someone like me who has no interest in parading out a different glass for each wine but understands that there are reasons why the various glasses exist.

[chezcherie]

verrrrry interesting. i'm going to see if macy's has them in stock, as my husband is a macy's coupon hoarder. will try them out, and would be most interested in industry purchasing info. one of the first tangible benefits we reaped as egulleteers was the screaming deal on spiegelau glasses to be had via amazon, back in the day. we have gifted, chipped, cracked and smashed our way through an impressive backstock of those, and i'd love to replace them with these, as well as supply our cooking school with nicer glassware. excited to learn more. cheers!

[Chris Amirault]

How big are they? I can't find sizes anywhere on the website.

[Dana]

The red is approx 8 3/4 inches tall and 3 3/4 inches at the widest part of the bowl. The white is approx 8 1/4 inches tall and 3 1/4 inches wide. I've had them about a month and love them. And they fit in my regular cabinet. Nice thin rim. The stem is shorter than my Spiegelau so they look smaller, but the bowls are pretty close to the same width.

[Alcuin]

This is good news. I've never really liked the idea of having so many different glasses around and I'm skeptical that so many are needed anyway, so a glass designed specifically (and rigorously) to apply to most situations would be ideal. I like the break resistant glass too-I've seen them in action in stores (in impromptu demonstrations) and they are pretty resistant. Could be a good investment-I'm definitely going to check this out. Thanks for the heads up!

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks Dana. What volume are they?

[Fat Guy]

Red are 19.5oz, white are 15.5oz.

[Chris Amirault]

Holy crap. That's huge. So, as the photo indicates, you only fill about 1/3 of the way up.

[Fat Guy]

A good rule of thumb for the home is to fill to just below the elbow where the glass bends in. For restaurants you'd probably want to put in your standard pour and see where that lands you.

[jsmeeker]

sounds pretty good to me.

I have some Riedel glasses for red wine. They are from a line made for Target. They are pretty nice. $10 a stem. I use them for any red wine. I also have some small wine glasses I use for white. They are kinda clunky and have a thick lip. But I bought them long ago from Crate and Barrel when I moved into my apartment. I just needed something. If I had the space to store them, I would get a new set to use for white wines. Maybe the white wine glass from that Riedel line from Target. OR maybe these. I actually have a Stölzle wine glass that I got when attending a food and wine festival in Charleston last year. It's pretty nice. (though it does have a logo for the festival along with a logo for Piggly Wiggly etched into the glass)

What about sparkling wine? Do you use a flute for those? I have a set of basic flutes, too.

[Fat Guy]

I have flutes because people expect flutes, but I prefer a standard white-wine glass for sparkling -- the better the sparkling wine the more I prefer using a regular glass.

[NVNVGirl]

I picked up a box of The One for red at a seminar Andrea did at Trefethen Winery last weekend and I LOVE them. I'm going back to the winery to purchase The One for whites when I have time to get over there.

I think they're classic and classy looking in addition to complementing the wine being drunk from them and since moving to a smaller house with less storage space, this is the perfect solution for me.

[chezcherie]

grrr...can't locate these on the macy's website. want to get my hands on some to try them this weekend.

[Dana]

I ordered mine directly from Robinson's website.

[chezcherie]

I ordered mine directly from Robinson's website.

yep, will do that, but was hoping to actually lay hands on some this weekend. i may be placing a big order for the cooking school if these are terrific. just got antsy and impatient!

[Andreawine]

Thanks for all the great comments and thoughts on The One stemware - I appreciate any and all feedback!

Great idea to have a discount for Gullet-eers. I have set up a discount code of 30% on 4-packs for you all. Just use the code Egullet30 at checkout on Andreawine.com. Thanks again and happy tasting!

[Kouign Aman]

Wow.

You just inspired me to ask the spouse if we can get rid of his 20-serving set of matched glasses and replace them with yours. I have my fingers crossed!

[Alcuin]

Wow! I went to Macy's looking for these to play with them over the weekend but couldn't find them. I intended to order some time soon but I'm going to do it right now-thanks!

[Fat Guy]

My understanding is that only certain Macy's stores have the glasses: whichever are the company's elite-level stores. I'm not exactly sure how to parse that information.

[Alcuin]

My understanding is that only certain Macy's stores have the glasses: whichever are the company's elite-level stores. I'm not exactly sure how to parse that information.

The one I went to had a good selection of stemware but you could tell almost all there business was probably to be used as wedding gifts. I was pretty sure they wouldn't have them but its a nice Macy's and I was excited so I figured why not.

All's well that ends well-just ordered white and red glasses. Looking forward to checking them out.

[blue_dolphin]

...

All's well that ends well-just ordered white and red glasses. Looking forward to checking them out.

Me, too. Went to Macy's to look for them on Sunday. No luck. So I also ordered reds and whites to try with the discount - thank you very much!

Edited September 1, 2010 by blue_dolphin (log)

[blue_dolphin]

The order I placed last week for a box of reds and one of whites arrived today and I'm very pleased.

The glasses are lovely to look at and the boxes are certainly gift-worthy and well designed to protect the glasses during shipping without a gross excess of paper or bubble wrap.

No extensive taste testing here and I'm hardly the one to do that in any case but I went ahead and poured a few ounces of my current house red and white. In comparison to my usual wine glasses, the wine seems much more crisply focused in The One glasses. Sort of like putting eye glasses on, for those who need them or adjusting the focus of a lens.

Very nice.

I'll order more.

[blue_dolphin]

I forgot to mention the cost.

With the Egullet 30% discount, the cost of each 4-pack was $34.96 (list = 49.95)

Shipping for the 2 4-packs I ordered came to $15.00 and tax added $6.12 for a total of $91.05, which works out to a reasonable $11.38/stem

Edited September 9, 2010 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Alcuin]

Got mine yesterday but didn't have a chance to check them out. I'm going to tonight though with a favorite inexpensive wine (pinot noir from the Dolomites). They're similar in shape to some Stolzle stems I have, but nicer.