Washing Wine Glasses

It sounds simple enough, I mean you wash juice and milk glasses all the time, what could be so special about washing a wine glass? Truth is, wine glasses do need just a bit more care in the washing arena. Keep in mind that the liquid in the wine glass is typically a bit pricier than your jug of milk or orange juice, so the extra measures to ensure a clean glass could be viewed as merely protecting your investment.

Washing Phase To wash a wine glass you can take one of several approaches:

The Rinser Method

As easy as it sounds, just rinse, rinse and triple rinse your wine glasses with hot water. Make sure that all of the residual wine is removed and allow glasses to air dry, turned upside down on a clean towel.

The Washer Method

Using a very mild detergent, sparingly add a drop to each glass and sponge the soap around to remove all wine stain. Then rinse the heck out of the glass. Soap residue left on your wine glass will interfere with the flavor and aroma of wine.

The Soda Method

Often reserved for delicate crystal glasses, washing soda (or baking soda if you are hard pressed) will gently clean the glass and absorb residual wine. Washing soda is available in most grocery stores in the detergent section. Remember that crystal is much more porous than typical glass and is more likely to absorb odors from its surroundings, be that storage companions - like a cupboard full of coffee or cleaning detergents used in the process.

Dishwasher Method

Wine glasses that have shorter stems and that are not made from crystal are ideal candidates for the good old dishwasher. Just use a bit less detergent than you would for a normal, full load and don't set the wash cycle on "heat dry," so that you avoid baking on detergent that has not washed clean. Once the cycle is complete, immediately remove glasses and hand dry with a cotton (lint-free) dish towel.

The method may vary, but the result should be the same - a clean glass of wine, every time.