I saw an Italian family in a film drinking wine from glasses without stems. Unusual? Why do others have stems?!
Answers: Not unusual at all. Table wine is perfectly fine being served in a non-stemmed glass. The reasoning behind stemware is so that your hand doesn't warm up the glass... which most people don't realize and hold it by the goblet. Table wine served at most meals in Italy, though better than what we get here in the US, isn't of such high quality that it matters. Take a common pilsner like PBR for example, the proper serving glass is a Pilsner glass, shaped kinda like a large champagne flute with a stubby stem. Most often it is served in a standard shaker (pint glass), why? Because it doesn't really matter.
stemware is a show-off item .. like see how fancy I am...
the other view is
by handeling the stem you do not heat the wine from your hand,,,...
coco coco
Its just a style of wine glass....
a lot of new trendy restaurants use them.
they are still considred wine glasses...
Italians are more casual about their wine and dining, so it would not be unusual to use non stemmed glasses to drink wine out of, especially if it is just a family gathering. The stems just make the glass fancy. Also, they make some wine glasses that are just the top part of the glass. It is the shape of the lip on the glass that affects the way the wine falls on your tounge. That is why people use wine glasses also, so the stem doesn't really matter.
it was house wine not fancy wine everyday table dinner wine is drunk that way threw out Europe
I disagree about the stems just being fancy additions to a glass. It also keeps your hands from smudging the bowl of the glass when you are drinking with a meal. If you are drinking at a tasting it keeps the bowl free of defects so you can properly observe the wine in the glass. The French have a variety of shapes and sizes to accentuate wines in different regions.
Italians are much more laid back about their drinking style and most often just drink out of tumblers.
I like it both ways : )
Wine is a drink that is served without ice, but normally served chilled. The heat from your hands through the glass would prematurely heat up the wine, hence: the stem. Hold it by the stem and the wine stays cold longer. Same principal for martini glasses.