Will These Wine Glasses Do?

By Owen Jones

The rising trend of popularity of wine has led to a boom in things to go with wine like corkscrews, stoppers, coolers, napkins, pouring baskets, decanters, candles, thermometers, bottle jackets, hydrometers and dozens of varieties of each accessory from electric versions to manual ones. Needless to say, a lot of these accessories will be used until the novelty wears off and then left at the back of the cupboard.

However, there is one category of wine drinking accessory that no wine drinker should be without and that is wine glasses. They are indispensable, I am sure that everyone would agree. But the good thing about wine glasses is that they are decorative when they are not in use too. A set of six lead crystal wine glasses is a fine-looking sight. And a fine set of glasses correctly shaped for the wine you are drinking will greatly enhance your enjoyment of that wine.

This is because the shape of the glass is very influential on the drinker's capacity to savour the taste and the aroma of wine. Therefore, it is necessary to use the correct glasses for the type of wine being served.

Red wines gain a lot from contact with air, so, aside from opening the bottle an hour before drinking it, you could decant it. The older and heavier the wine, the more air it must have. The next step is to serve the red wine in large glasses. This is not so as to be able to get as much wine in there as possible! A full, normal size bottle contains six servings no matter what glass you use, but a large glass allows you to swirl the wine around the glass, thereby increasing its contact with air.

A large tulip shaped glass is a good illustration of this kind of wine glass and any dark red wine would benefit from being drunk out of such a vessel. Try a Rioja or Bordeaux, for instance.

White wines, on the other hand, do not need to breathe for as long as red wines and are best served slightly chilled. Therefore, the wine glasses are likely to have a smaller bowl and a longer stem. The bowl is smaller, because swirling is not necessary and the stem is longer, so that the heat from your hand does not warm the wine up prematurely. Try a Chardonnay, a Sauvignon or a German wine in these glasses.

Champagne glasses are called champagne flutes because the bowl is long and narrow, which allows the bubbles to float through more of the wine than if the bowl were short. This is beneficial for the wine, the taste and its appearance. The stem is also long as with other white wines to diminish heat transference.

The last main kind of glass is the sherry schooner, which is also used for port. Sherry and port are both heavy reds and so need to breathe, which is one of the reasons why they ought to be decanted. However, a schooner has hardly any stem, because the warmth from your hand is required to keep the wine at the right temperature.

Besides the shape of the bowl and the length of the stem, the next most significant factor is the quality of the glass and its design. Some people like hand-blown glass and it can be very beautiful, but it also tends to be light and fragile. I prefer to use lead crystal glasses, which are a lot heavier and can take a deeper pattern.

About the Author:

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Waterford crystal vases. If you have an interest in Irish crystal or wedding rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

The Loneliness Of The Wealthy

By Bruce Jopples

The loneliness of the wealthy and the fortunate has influenced a lot of influential art and novels. They are seen to be in possession of all that everyone could feasibly want but this sadly does not mean that they will naturally be surrounded by people with whom they can interact. Having made the decision to be dedicated in pursuing their higher living standards people like this often realize belatedly that their lives are incomplete

We are all told about the need for wealth and security being built up and this is something we are all told that it is good to seek but when we study the lives of the people who have done just this we will see that there is quite a price paid by emphasizing this and it leads them to be troubled souls

It's the case for a range of reasons. It has been said many times that money cannot bring you the happiness you crave but even to cliche of this kind some truth is inherent within it. This is true in this particular case.

It can be difficult to become accustomed to as there has been an emphasis in Western culture on pursuing dreams of this sort. We are all told that to be at the very height of success you need to have achieved a certain financial prestige while ignoring other matters which may impact on our happiness.

Intimacy on an emotional basis means that we can witness all the pleasures of relationships with others and the simple things in life afford us an outlet for enjoyment. Neither of these important matters necessarily are dependent on having a huge bank account and this is why issues occur.

If people think of you as something who dressed well and has amassed a notable fortune then it can prove to be somewhat challenging for people to see anything else and this leads to difficulties in relationships for them as people naturally seek them out for these particular qualities instead of taking into account their personality and the type of person they may be as happens in every day life

Being lonely can spiral into other problems of being isolated and not understanding how the real world functions and this is closely associated with issues that impact upon mental health. It can then quickly lead a person to indulge in alcohol and drugs to fill the emptiness with which they are filled. We witness this as a daily occurrence in the lives of celebrities who are familiar with the phrase it is lonely at the top.

About the Author:

The wealthy get lonely and that is where Internet dating comes in handy. There is a little something called millionaire online dating that you could look into.