As we move into the Summer months when outdoor entertaining is commonplace, stemless wine glasses are everywhere. These casual tumblers place the wine directly in your hand. Oddly enough, the popularity of stemless wine glasses is recent, with people adopting them wildly over the past few years.

With the launch of the Riedel “O” glass in 2004, stemless wine glasses became elegant. As the story goes, Maximilian Riedel (eleventh generation glassmaker from the Riedel family) lived in a small apartment with little space for tall stems. Many of us urban dwellers can empathize. Hence, he created the shorter, stemless, “O” glasses as a great solution. Max wanted a quality wine glass, that didn’t take up much space. Hence, Riedel created his own version of a high-end stemless wine glass.

These days, stemless wine glasses are a required vessel in all wine lover’s cabinets. When refinement is less important than simplicity, a stemless wine glass is a great solution. If you’re hosting a party with a lot of guests, stemless wine glasses can go directly in the dishwasher without the worry of stem breakage.

So one might ask, why did glasses have stems in the first place? For more serious tastings, the stem of a glass allows one to swirl the wine easily and evenly. It also prevents foggy hand prints which can muck up the look of your glass. Finally, holding a glass at its stem helps maintain the temperature of the wine. When a glass is held at the bowl, your warm hand can heat up the wine over time.

It all comes down to selecting the type of glass that suits your needs. Stemless or stemmed wine glasses is a personal choice and it may depend on the occasion. For summer entertaining, you may prefer stemless. We have a wide variety of stemless wine glasses in all shapes, patterns, and sizes perfect for any occasion. Our new “Fireworks U’s” are popular for July 4th, or try the more tailored Riedel ‘O’ Chardonnay or Riedel ‘O’ Cabernet. Why not stock up your cabinet with an assortment of stemless options? You can even personalize them, so you know which one is yours :)

Do you use stemless wine glasses at home? What’s your preference? Leave a comment, and let us know!