Holiday Wine Glasses: What Size, Crystal or Glass, How Many You Need

A standard US pour of wine is 5 oz. How full it looks depends on the bowl. In a 10 to 12 oz glass, 5 oz reaches about the widest point of the bowl. In a 19 to 28 oz bowl the same pour sits low and leaves room to swirl, which gives a red wine air.

Our four sets cover that range: about 10 oz for the etched holiday glasses, 12 oz for the clear set of 12, 19 oz for the crystal set and 28 oz for the hand-painted pair. If you pour generously over a long dinner, a bigger bowl keeps the glass from looking full to the rim.

Wide bowls are traditional for red wine: the extra surface gives the wine air as you swirl. Smaller bowls are traditional for white and sparkling wine, which are served chilled and poured in smaller amounts.

Most home tables do well with one all-purpose glass. Our crystal glasses have a wide burgundy-style bowl and are made for red or white. The clear 12 oz glasses work for red, white and sparkling. The etched holiday glasses hold about 10 oz, a size that suits wine and sparkling pours. The hand-painted pair is a red wine glass with a 28 oz bowl.

Crystal can be blown thinner than everyday glass, so the rim feels finer and the glass rings when you tap it. It is also more fragile and is usually washed by hand.

Everyday glass is thicker and tougher and costs less to replace when one breaks, which matters if you host often or have a long table to fill.

Our crystal glasses are 9.5 in tall and 4 in across, with a 19 oz bowl, and are hand wash only. The clear set of 12, the etched holiday set and the hand-painted pair are glass.

For a seated dinner, set one wine glass per guest for each wine you pour in its own glass, plus a water glass at every place. Eight guests with one wine need 8 wine glasses; with a white for the first course and a red for the main course, 16.

If guests stand and mingle before dinner, glasses get set down and forgotten. A few spares save a trip to the sink.

Our sets come in 2, 4 and 12. Two crystal sets give 8 matching glasses. The clear set of 12 covers eight seats with four to spare. The etched holiday set has one glass each in gold, silver, red and green, which helps guests keep track of their own glass at a small gathering.

Glasses sit above the knives, on the right of each place. The water glass goes just above the tip of the dinner knife. Wine glasses go to its right, set in the order they will be used.

Large bowls need room. On a crowded table, set the water glass and one wine glass at each place and bring any others out with the wine.

Check your shelf height before you buy tall glasses: the crystal glasses stand 9.5 in and the etched holiday glasses about 8.4 in.

Paint, metallic plating and colored finishes wear off in a dishwasher long before the glass does. Wash anything painted, plated or color-finished by hand unless its care note says otherwise.

Our etched holiday glasses have a mirror-finished metallic plating over an etched baroque pattern; hand washing protects the plated finish. The hand-painted pair carries a painted pattern in red, blue and gold tones across the lower bowl, so wash it by hand too.

Hold a stemmed glass by the bowl, not the stem, while you wash and dry it: twisting the bowl against the stem is a common way stems snap.

Capacity is per glass. Sizes are given where we have them.