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July
07
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Washing Wine Glasses: From a Chore to
an Art Form
No one is particularly fond of washing dishes, with many people
reserving it for times when the tower of dirty dishes in the kitchen
sink begins to resemble the Tower of Pisa. But, for those who have a
collection of wine glasses, particularly crystal wine glasses,
washing dishes correctly becomes essential in preserving the glasses
ability to fully do their job.
Non-Crystal Wine Glasses
Non-crystal wine glasses are not as high maintenance as crystal wine
glasses, but they still require a certain know how, knowledge on
what to do for everything from using dish soap to removing a rabid
wine stain that, no matter how much you yourself whine, will not
come out.
Just Add Water: A simple method in wine glasses is to just add
water. Rinsing the wine glasses three or four times in hot water
should be enough to remove all residual wine. And, placing the wine
glasses upside down on a clean cloth, when finished, will help the
wine glasses in their quest to air dry.
A Touch of Soap: Adding just a drop of soap can help remove a wine
glass with a stubborn wine residue. The soap used should be very
mild, and the cloth used for scrubbing should be soft and
sponge-like. Be sure you rinse all the soap from the glass; if the
tiniest amount remains, you may find that your next glass of Merlot
is as sudsy as a bottle of beer.
Use the Dishwasher: While it may seem like the modern day dishwasher
is a place where wine glasses go to die, those that are not made of
crystal and do not possess long stems can actually be washed in this
manner. But, if you wash wine glasses in technology, don’t use very
much detergent and don’t allow the dishes to be dried by heat; as
soon as the dishwasher is finished rinsing, remove the wineglasses
and dry them by hand.
Crystal Wine Glasses
Crystal Wine Glasses are definitely the most elegant of glasses and
they know it, standing tall and acting as if they are the Holy
Grail. Because of this, they require a lot of tender loving care and
they need more attention than other types of dinnerware. If they
don’t receive it, they will likely rebel, forfeiting their ability
to enhance the taste of wine, ruining it in the process.
Crystal is porous and can absorb flavors – particularly soapy
flavors – with relative ease. If this absorption happens, you might
have a clean wine glass, but you will also have a wine glass that
alters the flavor of your wine, adding in a dollop of detergent.
Use Washing Soda: Washing soda – and baking soda works too, but not
as well – is a type of cleaning soda that is designed for use on
glass in a gentle, but complete, manner. It is made to be a cleaner
that won’t be absorbed by crystal. Most grocery stores sell it in
the detergent aisle.
Use the Force of Lukewarm Water: Like non-crystal wine glasses,
crystal wine glasses can be washed simply with water. Making sure
the water is lukewarm in temperature, rinse the wine glass
repeatedly. If the wine won’t come out, add just a drop of very mild
detergent and gently wash with a soft cloth. Never use a steel or a
wool pad, your crystal wine glasses will never speak to you again.
Don’t Use the Dishwasher: While the Maytag man would probably assert
that dishwashers are safe enough for crystal wineglasses, the truth
of the matter is the dishwasher can ruin the wine glass one of two
ways. While one of these ways simply involves placing your wine
glass in the dishwasher, allowing it to run, and then opening it up
only to find that your one crystal wine glass is now several pieces
of crystal wine glass, the other way a dishwasher can ruin it is by
allowing detergent to bake into the crystal. This baking causes the
wine glass to cloud, ruining it and refuting the old “crystal clear”
saying.
Place Over Boiling Water: The experts at the Riedel Wine Glass
Company suggest that to make your crystal wine glass really shine,
hold the glass over a pot of boiling water, allowing the steam to
cover it. Once this “steam bath” is finished, simply dry the wine
glasses with a linen towel.
Taking care of dinnerware can be no fun: the easily aggravated wine
drinker may simply refuse to give their dinnerware proper care,
telling their wine collection to kiss their glass. But, taking
proper care of wine glasses is elemental in making sure the wine
glasses hold their ability to add to wine’s elegance, never losing
their edge and beating a regular old cup by a stem.
By
Jennifer Jordan
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Happy shopping.
Indulge your senses,
Leslie Maliepaard
WineWeb.co.za Editor
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