Looking for thick wine glasses

July 1, 2013 6:20 AM

Does anyone know of any recommendations for thick wine glasses? I am tired of thin wide glasses (that seem to break a lot) and I am NOT interested in plastic glasses. I know they exist, as I was at a bar a couple of months back while traveling, and they served wine in this very thick wine glasses. It was exactly what I was looking for so I asked the waitress, who asked the manager, but they didn't know where there were sourced. I am just looking for a plain wine glass (red or white wine), with no markings or decorations on them at all, but the wine glass itself is very thick. I would need to be about to buy these online as well. (And yes, I am aware that the thickness of the glass could affect that taste of the wine, but I am still looking for a thick glass.
posted by dbirchum to Food & Drink (23 answers total)

I have seen them at Pier 1 or Cost Plus type stores, I think the very thick glasses are from Mexico.
posted by jennstra at 6:32 AM on July 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thinness is usually correlated with price, so look cheap. I have an old set from Ikea that I remember being pretty thick, though I'm not sure how thick you're thinking-- just not-Riedel-thin, or actually 2-3 mm?

Maybe restaurant supply stores would have the super-thick ones that one usually sees in family-style Italian trattorias; that's usually what I associate them with.
posted by supercres at 6:35 AM on July 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Look for cheap white wine glasses, they tend to be thicker. Ikea has ones that are slightly thicker than normal, and at one point I got a box of super chunky thick ones at walmart.
posted by tenaciousmoon at 6:49 AM on July 1, 2013

Try TJ Maxx or Marshalls. I'm not sure how thick you're talking, but certainly cheap wine glasses are thicker than average.
posted by hoyland at 6:49 AM on July 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

the wine glass itself is very thick

Depends on what you mean by "very thick". As others have suggested, wine glasses are made thin on purpose, because it produces better results. So even a cheap, "thick" wine glass is likely to be thinner than a water goblet or beer glass for that very reason.

It occurs to me that the "wine glasses" you saw at that restaurant may well have been re-purposed water goblets. They're making wine glasses in so many shapes these days, conventional and otherwise, that you can probably get away with that. Most people will just think you have unusual wine glasses, and most of the people who do know the difference won't probably care. The kind of person that's going to get touchy about wine in the wrong glasses is a hard-core wine snob. Those sorts of people can just deal.
posted by valkyryn at 6:58 AM on July 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

La Rochere makes wine glasses that are quite thick.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:58 AM on July 1, 2013

If breakage is your main concern, consider Schott Zwiesel Tritan glasses. They use a proprietary titanium mix in the glass, so they're not thick, but they're about as unbreakable as any wine glass could be. I've done stuff to mine that would shatter any Riedel and the Zwiesels just bounce. They're widely available on Amazon.
posted by The Michael The at 7:01 AM on July 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

The ones sold at Walmart by Libbey are pretty thick (and cheap). These are what I'm thinking of.
posted by pyjammy at 7:47 AM on July 1, 2013

Restaurant supply store.
posted by Sara C. at 8:06 AM on July 1, 2013 [3 favorites]

After getting very frustrated by wine glasses so thin that they would shatter when you tried to hand-wash them, I picked up a dozen Anchor Hocking wine glasses at my local restaurant supply store, and they are beautifully solid without being chunky or "thick." Plus they were $27 for the dozen.
posted by KathrynT at 8:15 AM on July 1, 2013

Google "Depression Ware". These can be 3/16" thick; much thicker than even normal water glasses. The idea is that frugality dominated in the '30s, and so wine glasses were made quite thick to avoid needing repurchase (and stamped in molds, which fit in with the Arts & Crafts esthetic of the day). There are both expensive originals, and cheap reproductions available.

Also, glass will never affect the taste. The most it can do is moderate the temperature of the wine, which will be more pronounced with thick glass - but then, if you prechill the glass, the wine will stay cooler longer, too.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:43 AM on July 1, 2013

Go to a restaurant supply store and look at glasses from Libbey. They are VERY thick.
posted by joan_holloway at 8:47 AM on July 1, 2013

Best answer: You can get wine glasses in that heavy Mexican blown glass. Some of them are just too, too clumsy, but check out something like this or this.

The other option is to not bother using wine glasses and drink your wine from café glasses instead.
posted by desuetude at 8:52 AM on July 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've found the exact kind of glasses you're looking for at Dollerama, a popular dollar store in Canada. Try your local "upscale" dollar store, maybe?
posted by hasna at 9:12 AM on July 1, 2013

I bought myself some very thick handblown wine glasses from a local artisan store where I live in New England. They are very thick and irregularly shaped and very awesome. If you can't find what you want in the suggestions above, maybe you could commission a local glass-blower to make you some in the thickness that you want?
posted by lakersfan1222 at 10:33 AM on July 1, 2013

Simon Pearce glasses are thick, but not cheap. You sometimes can buy seconds.
posted by Ideefixe at 10:36 AM on July 1, 2013

I drink wine out of a Duralex tumbler. Durable, unlikely to be tipped over, and I like how it looks. Not appropriate for formal dinner parties, but fine for everything else.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:55 AM on July 1, 2013

Response by poster: Hi all -

Thanks so much for the replies.

Ok, so today is Canada Day (I am in Canada). I was at a Canada Day party this afternoon and mentioned my quest on the thick wine glass to a couple of people in conversation.

Anyway, one of my friends thought that she had what I was looking for, went to her place, got the glass and I took some pictures.

It was a glass that she said she bought in a outlet mall in Florida that mostly sold spices, jams, jellies, salsa, etc (does anyone know the name of that store?). Anyway, they also had a selection of hand blown recycled glass. It is fairly clear and REALLY thick. JUST what I am looking for.

I have attached pictures here, here and here. I have taken one picture next to a regular wine glass so you can notice the significant difference in the thickness (its at least twice as thick). I would still prefer it to be clear though, without the decorative swirl...

Any more help??
posted by dbirchum at 6:42 PM on July 1, 2013

Yeah, that's one of those kitschy "Mexican" art glass things.
posted by Sara C. at 6:43 PM on July 1, 2013

Yes, that's probably Mexican blown glass. If you Google "recycled glass wine goblet" you'll get a zillion hits for similar items.
posted by desuetude at 11:23 PM on July 1, 2013

Response by poster: Sounds like Mexican blown glass is what I am looking for.

Any suggestions as to how I can source some (online)? I will begin my google searching now, but curious as to if anyone has any good suggestions.

Thanks!
posted by dbirchum at 7:54 AM on July 2, 2013

Do you all have Dollar Trees? They have cheap thick glasses that look just like those all the time for a buck a piece. (without the decoration) We buy them for outdoor parties, use them until something happens to them, then replace them.
posted by SuzySmith at 1:06 PM on July 2, 2013

Novica will give you what you need. Or, as I mentioned, the Google.
posted by desuetude at 12:32 AM on July 3, 2013