I would love some help with a final stemware selection. I am purchasing a set of stemware for use when I have company, which is not terribly frequently…maybe 6 times a year at most. I am between the Waterford Marquis and the Schott Zwiesel Forte; my plusses and minuses for each are about even. I have narrowed my choices to these two because both my kitchen and dining room are small; I don’t have a lot of space to store stemware, and things do have a tendency to topple over when six or eight of us are gathered together. Therefore, I don’t want anything more expensive. At the price point of these two, I can afford to replace. I understand the Tritan is supposed to be more durable but that is not a major concern with me as these are not for daily use. I will be hand washing as my dishwasher does not really have room for stemware, even though the SZ is supposed to be dishwasher safe.
I kind of prefer the look of the Forte as part of my table setting, but overall the Waterford is better looking crystal, in my opinion. I prefer the Waterford full body red glass, and my guests and I do drink more red. I am not concerned with lead-free crystal as this won’t be used nightly. (Actually, I have my own wine out of a lead crystal tasting glass each night that is far more expensive than either of these glasses, but I digress.) I purchased a trial set of the Schott Zwiesel from a store’s open stock, and I noticed when I got home that it had a a lot of hard-to-remove fingerprints on it (no doubt it was handled by many in the store) and read a review that it is indeed hard to clean prints from it. (Yes, I know fingers don’t generally belong on the bowl of a glass but when drying by hand they do come into contact with it. I don’t want anything too high mainentance.)
Anyone have experience with both brands or a reason to pick one over the other? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
The Schott Zwiesel Forté Tritan glasses are our regular red wine glasses. Despite rating as dishwasher-safe, we hand wash these always, and I’ve never had any issue getting them sparkling clean. These may be more durable than standard crystal, but they are not unbreakable. We break them at perhaps a slower rate than average, probably 1-2 stems per year.
I don’t have any experience with the Waterford (my next most commonly owned glass is Riedel Restaurant Series) but IMO as long as the glass has a large bowl to facilitate aggressive swirling, and no cut crystal/otherwise outside markings to impair your view of the wine, then go with whatever you find most aesthetically pleasing.
The Waterford Marquis are my daily drinkers for bordeaux style glasses. They hold up well when hand washing and drying. Haven’t broken one in over a year either.
We have many many different types of stemware and we use this glass for 99.9% of all wine drinking. Cheap ($7.99 @ Winex), durable (once dropped one on wood floor from countertop and did not break, although you do have to be careful when washing), versatile (we use it for all wines), nice shape for aggressive swirling, attractive.
I have both the SZ Forte and Reidel Vinum. I much prefer the SZ for their durability and price. The Vinums come out for special occasions and even then, I still usually grab the SZ. No experience with Waterford. I’ve managed to break 2 SZs over the last couple of months. I’m retarded. No problem getting the SZ sparkling clean with hand washing. I dry them immediately after with a microfiber towel to reduce lint and spots. I can find SZ Forte quite easily at Winex for $8/stem. I can swallow $8 pretty easy when my dumbass breaks one.
Thanks, Larry…my original reply to you did not post so hopefully this doesn’t show up twice.
Which red wine glass are you using? I’m considering the Full Bodied Red, according to the store label on my glass. However, it looks a bit different than the web site picture and is a little more elongated at the bottom which is why I’m having trouble with the shape. I actually prefer the shape of the Full Bodied White/Young Red, but it is a bit smaller than I’d like. (This one is definitely mislabeld from the store, which says it holds 19+ oz. but the web says 17+.)
I will also be getting a burgundy glass, but so far of the 2 lines I do like the Waterford red glass a little better.
Good info. on the cleaning, Joe. That is one of my sticking points; I have so far resisted washing the sample glass as I will probaby return them to the store b/c I will be purchasing sets. Pricing and selection on Amazon and bestwineglass.com are also tipping the scales a bit; one advantage to the Waterford is ease of repurchase; they are always available at Macy’s, which is near to me.
We replaced our remaining Marquis by Waterford with SZ Forte Burgundy and Chianti/Zin/Water in the last 3 months. Very happy with them. I was a little concerned about the SZ but ultimately I prefer their size and design.
It’s too bad you don’t have room in your dishwasher. I found putting the Marquis in one virtually eliminated breakage while washing and now do the same with SZ*. Rinsing in piping hot water and drying with microfiber cloths dedicated to the purpose removes any water residue, fingerprints, etc.
*Seriously, I stopped hand washing the Marquis survivors and put them in the dishwasher hoping to hasten their demise and get new glasses. Instead, I gave them a new lease on life.
You can’t go wrong with the SZ Forte. The Burgundy and Bordeaux are great glasses, reasonably priced, very sturdy, clean nicely by hand or in the dishwasher (but I think the dishwasher is the better option if available to you), no lead, easy to obtain replacements. I’ve never bothered getting the smaller white wine glasses, and I just use the Bordeaux stems for whites.
I’ve had them for many years now and have zero complaints.
You guys have been so helpful! Of course I personally am still deciding…I am trying to get passed the fact that I think the Waterford Crystal looks a little prettier (I am a female, after all) but the fact that so many are so pleased with the SZ is helping me to make up my mind.
Any other opinions out there, please keep them coming!
I use Schott Zweisel Tritans (Forte). K & L has good prices on them. We often hand-wash after using three or four, but after dinner parties, have had no problems running bunches of them through our Miele dishwasher. We have 12 piece sets of the Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chardonnay and Champagne. They come 6 to a box, but you can also order them by the stem.
Having limited space as well, we’ve found that the SZ Forte Burgundy glasses are a good glass for all wines…red or white. Especially sine my nose is bigger than average which causes issues with most white wine glasses. We put them in the dishwasher daily and have only broken two in the past two years…both my wife’s fault removing them from the DW.