Costco Wine Glass Review: Stolzle All Purpose

Stolzle Lausitz GmbH
Made in Germany
All Purpose Wine Glass
Break Resistant Lead Free Crystal
635ml, 21.4 oz volume
8 pack, $20 in warehouse, $28 online/delivered
availability is spotty for both in person and delivery
item 1532011, item might be misspelled in their system

Like a carton of eggs, check all the glasses for cracks/scratches before purchase. I suggest calling ahead to see if they are in stock, and ask where they are located upon arrival. Our local ones are selling roughly a dozen boxes a day if one wants to gauge when they might run out. Props to berzerker Ron Erickson for flagging this to Costco cognoscenti in a couple other threads!

The glasses are tall, and heavy but tolerate dishwashing well. They seem originally intended for the restaurant trade given their durability/price. Perhaps restaurants didn’t need to restock the last 18 mos, leading to this deal. I don’t really love the angular look/feel, but didn’t have any of this style, and its been a while since I’ve bought stems, probably not since the Nachtmann deal at Costco a Christmas or two ago.

The stem feels substantial to me, and try as I might, with fingernails and visual inspection, I can NOT detect seams either on the base/bowl. The visual clarity gets distorted at the bottom of the bowl of course.

These may be secondary glasses for WB types, but could still be helpful hostess gifts for the holiday season, or a presumptuous leave behind for close family/friends if one knows that decent stemware is scarce when visiting. I think the best deal in seasonal stemware sales tends to be CostPlus World Market’s Bordeaux / Burgundy 6 packs (sometimes for $20 per, pick up only, xmas time) which are just white labeled yet watermarked Spiegelau…but who knows if that will happen again, and these are shaped differently for those who prefer that.

I baptized a few of these with the 2014 Joseph Phelps ‘Freestone Vyd’ Chardonnay [Sonoma Coast] which came closed under DIAM10 and noted 13.5% abv on the label. I thought the wine was really good! I hardly ever buy/drink Phelps since they always seem to have the strange combination of easy availability (Costco, supermarkets etc.) and (for my perception) fairly rich prices. One of my doctors, who is a member of their club, has the same impression too, but he can’t unsubscribe since his better half has fond memories of a visit. Lighter bodied, great acidity despite the age, and since I had left in the fridge tartrate crystals on both the cork, and the bottom of the bottle. Long finish. For those who like apple and citrus flavors, rather than the usual oily, vanilla types I favor. It drank very well over 3 days, no fading, although I enjoyed it the most on the 2nd night. I spend much less on blancs than rouge, but this is one of those that could start coaxing the wallet wider. I’d give this an A-, a better mark than a Ramey Hyde chard this summer.

Nice post and pics, Arv, thanks. Like you, I think it’s a good idea to have a stock of “hearty” stems that are acceptable enough to not detract from enjoying fine wine, but that can withstand either dishwasher treatment, or be those that you use in large gatherings where it’s assumed there might be some breakage. For us, that has been Spiegelau Authentis Bordeaux stems, which actually resemble these quite a bit. That said, my wife and I during Covid, didn’t host and didn’t really drink wine except in our own home and exclusively used either GlassVin stems or GGG stems. both of which don’t fit this category. They’re thin, delicate, fine stems and we love them. Not long ago, I had an occasion to use the Spiegelau and, WOW, I was amazed at how thick and clunky they felt. I got used to them, but if your regular rotation includes finer, more delicate stems, these might feel like behemoths after using them.

BTW, like you, I only bought a bunch of our Spiegelaus when I lucked out and found a very inexpensive box of 12 at a restaurant supply store.

We have an additional risk factor for stemware breakage

Most of my glasses are Reidel so I was happy to find a new look glassware. Stylish quality at $3 a stem; I’m in. Perfect for outdoor gatherings with no concern if one breaks. I loaded up with 3 boxes. Thanks for the review.

Restaurant stock makes sense … just need to be short enough to fit inside a dishwasher rack for their high temp dishwashers

So after about a month of casually using these vs. other stems, I would make the observation that they are clunky for ‘crystal’ stems. The edges are thick with a little bit of a lip; the stems are not dainty. I can definitely feel a difference between these and my lighter, more elegant (generically) Nachtmann, Riedel, Spiegelau, Schott Zweisel etc. But I do like them and have mixed them in to my usage, liking them for blanc’s actually, where they seem to help show the bouquet.

In some warehouses Costco has cut the price by $4, to $16 for an 8 pack; if I saw that at my local one I would get an extra set to leave at my siblings.

I have a host of top option glasses, but 9 months of the year 90% of my wine tasting is in outdoor social tastings. I still have about two dozen of the Costco Riedel knockoffs from a few of years ago. A resilient quality glass at a great price works. More than a few have been sacrificed to the wine gods over the years.

I use the SZ glasses that are also sometimes sold at Costco. Great tall size and makes so so wine taste a lot better with the wide rim. For me, the wide red wine glass lip doesn’t accent any unpleasant flavors in more casual wines.

I went thru a host of wines the past few weeks, all seemed to show no detriment by the glass.
2005 Bocquenet Aux Julien
2004 Felsina Rancia
2001 Clos Des Papes
2005 Pasquero Sori Paitin

I agree with the less weightless elegant level of a pure fine crystal glass, but these show a wide variety of wines well.

My wife observes that in the Costco Holiday catalog, these are being proferred again, albeit at a new & improved (and higher!) price of $22 per (presumed) 8 pack.

After a year of having these around, and using in many settings, including a dinner party last Saturday, where they were a choice for guests, I increasingly find them heavy/clunky/coarse; the stems are 235 grams with much of that weight in the stem, and the rimmed edges of the base are displeasing if one holds glasses that way. I suppose I also don’t really love the angular look even if its practical, and I’ll admit to having other variants.

All in all, my time tempered judgment is that these are a fair deal on a fair product, but not a screaming deal. If survivability matters, these do meet that test – all 8 are still alive a year later, when it was generally a tough prior month for stems, with 3 other types breaking in various ways.

Ive had these for a long time. Great for large groups, but agree theyre a bit clunky otherwise.