Why Zalto glasses?

A wine glass is basically divided into four parts: The base, the stem, the bowl and the rim. Let us take a closer look at these basic parts to create an understanding of the architecture of the wine glass:

The base

The base is the fundamentally part of a wine glass and has a simple, yet crucial role: Make sure the glass does not tip over. As wine expert Nova Cadamatre expresses: ”Don't cry over spilt milk but spilt wine is another story.”

The stem

The stem has basically two functions:

1.) First of all the stem allows you to hold the glass without any contact with the bowl. It is truly important, so you avoid heating the wine with your body temperature. This is the main reason, why you should avoid stemless glasses. As an example take a look at the Zalto Bordeaux glass how the thin stem enables the wine drinker to get a firm grip on the glass distanced from the bowl.

2.) The second function of the stem is to keep your hands away from the rim. The reason for this is that your hands have their own unique scent, which can change the aromas and the taste of the wine. This is why the stem is an important part of the wine glass as well, because the stem enables your hands to have a distance to your nose, so your hands’ scient does not impact the taste of the wine. We know, details!

The bowl

The bowl can have many shapes and is often the most 'eye catching' part of the wine glass. Just look at the Zalto Burgundy glass! The bowl is as well the most essential part of the wine glass, because the bowl enables you to swirl the wine. Importantly, the bowl has to be wider than the rim, so swirling is possible without losing the aromas of the wine. Swirling is a crucial part of improving the taste of the wine, since you release volatile aroma compounds and more nuances of the aromas will be revealed. The greater the surface area of the bowl is, the more volatile aroma compounds can be released. The bowl therefore has a useful and important role in enriching the taste of the wine.

The rim

The rim is the very fine and fragile part, where the wine and your lips first meet each other. By paying attention to the rim the very drinking-moment can be enhanced. The thinner the rim is, the more uninterrupted this transition can be – without feeling the glass you can instead focus on the perception of the wine taste. With Zalto white wine glass you can truly see, how thin a rim can be - down to 0.3 mm! 

All the parts of the wine glass have purposes and important functions that all combined create a perfect 'tool' for enjoying the best wine taste. Wine has a great complexity – and so does the wine glass. The wine glass is the 'tool' through which the complexity of the wine can be unfold. The right wine glass means a glass that can bring all the nuances, aromas and fruity notes to life.

The perfect wine glass is obviously a subjective assessment that always can be discussed. However, there are a number of criteria that may form the basis for a more informed assessment of the optimal wine glasses. 

We will in the following sections examine these criteria, and we will also exemplify why Zalto glasses are an optimal choice of wine glasses.

Every wine lover knows, that even before tasting the wine, you should carefully look at the wine to understand its clarity, color and consistency. Therefore the glass has to be completely transparent and as clear as possible. It is important that the glass is resistant to clouding and scratching, so the glass remains clear. As an example the Zalto Universal glass shows perfectly, how pure, transparent and clear a glass can be.

The material is the key to an enhanced wine experience. The classical choice is between crystal and glass material. And the choice is 'crystal clear': Crystal is definitely preferable, since crystal has the ability to be spun extremely thin and yet strong and elastic. Just look at the Zalto Coupe Crystal Clear glass and the Zalto Coupe Effect glass -maybe the thinnest glass ever spun! One of the explanations, why crystal is the best material is that crystal has a rougher structure than normal glass, which creates turbulence in the wine. With the turbulence more aromatic compounds can be released in the wine and the more enhanced the taste will be.

Crystal glasses come in two different variations: lead and lead-free. Traditionally all crystal glasses contained leads, but as focus on health became increased an alternative arised: The lead-free crystal glass. To be honest, the short time the wine stays in the glass should not make the leads dangerous for you. Only when it comes to the decanter, it is important with the lead-free material, because the wine remains a longer time in the decanter - an example of lead-free decanters are the Zalto Axium Decanter and Zalto Mystique Decanter. Moreover you can see this exemplified in the Zalto Carafe no. 25 and Zalto Carafe no. 75.

The difference between lead and lead-free crystal is that with lead-free crystal the lead is substituted with the barium oxide (BaCO3). This results in a greater brilliance and since the barium oxide is lighter than the lead oxide, the glass is lighter but with the same durability. For example the Zalto Champagne glass weights around 80 gram, because Zalto uses lead-free crystal.

Importantly, the wine glass has to be spun as thin as possible. When the glass is thin, it allows the wine to stay at its original temperature - without any influence from the surrounding environment. A cold white wine will for example be heated by a thick glass material, but with a thin glass structure the wine will instead stay at the preferred temperature. Thin lead-free crystal comes perfecly to life with the Zalto stemware - take for example a look at the Zalto Dessert wine glass or the Zalto Digestive glass.

The shape of the glass has a crucial role in evoking the best taste. Previously we explained how important the shape of bowl is in terms of developing the wine, so the volatile aroma compounds can be revealed. Moreover, it is important that every glass has a shape suited for the beverage. As an example we like to draw your attention to the Zalto beer glass. Especially the shape of the rim is important, because a narrowed mouthed rim encourages sipping of the beer, so the first touchpoint with beer is the front and the side of the tongue - exactly where acidity and sweetness are registered.

This is a clear example of how Zalto with a great precision, knowledge and experience has developed every glass with a keen sense of perfection and detail - always with taste experience in focus.

The best wine experience is about indulging your taste buds. It is about expressing the complexity in the wine, so full wine satisfaction can be achieved. It is about paying attention to every little detail in the wine - all the nuances, flavors, aromas and fruity flavor notes. The wine glass is the 'tool' to evoke the best taste.

If you are a wine lover, you definitely should be 'glass lover' too. The wine glass is crucial for the wine experience - the taste, the feeling and the aesthetics. Great wine calls for the right conditions - for the right wine glass. Through this article we have exemplified how the Zalto stemware meets all the criteria that the optimal wine glass should be made after. Zalto has taken every little detail in consideration developing the Zalto collection, why we at Zaltify highly can recommend Zalto as your favorite glass brand. Zalto has even developed the Zalto water glass knowing that you need to refresh your palate and taste buds during wine tasting.

At Zaltify we hope that you will continue to enjoy the taste of good wine and be curious about new ways to evoke the best wine taste and thereby achieve the best wine experiences. The best wine experience starts with the right glass. The best wine experience starts with a Zalto glass.


Cheers!