Serving wine at a restaurant or bar is crucial to customer experience and enjoyment, making the right glasses essential to your business. Ensuring customers enjoy their wine selection is important and the glasses you provide can either enhance or hinder their experience.

Types of glasses

Many different styles and sizes of glasses are available, and your selection of wine glassware will alter the aroma and flavour complexity of the wine. The glass type you choose, including the shape, quality and material, is significant in affecting the wine drinking experience.

How many types of glasses do you serve wine with? Some wine varietals share a glass style, which can reduce the overall cost and storage space needed. At the very least, you will need to stock the basics of red, white, sparkling and dessert wine glasses, in addition to cocktail, beer and water glasses. You may also choose to hold a range of sizes and styles for each type of wine. For reds alone, you will need to consider the burgundy glass which perfectly complements full-bodied, lighter wines including Pinot Noir. Whilst shorter than a comparable Bordeaux glass, the burgundy variant offers a larger bowl which assists in directing the wine straight to the tip of the tongue, allowing the diner to experience the wine's delicate flavours.

Also consider trends at your restaurant - if Merlot is the most ordered wine at your establishment, rather than Chardonnay, for example, then consider purchasing a larger quantity of Bordeaux glasses to satisfy the demand.

Benefits of personalised wine glasses

A balanced wine glass selection will ensure that you have the appropriate options for serving, but will not make you stand out from the crowd. Consider personalised glasses to define your restaurant's unique personality clearly, emphasising your brand and enhancing the experience of your clientele. Recent analysis indicates that restaurant authenticity is vital to the customer experience. Personalising your glassware can achieve precisely this. Your main focus should be customer expectations. Upscale establishments and quirky, unique restaurants alike both benefit from personal, customised touches. Glassware is often taken for granted, and yet the correct choice can set your establishment apart from the rest.

You may find it more cost-effective to combine your wine glass order into as few shipments as possible to save on freight cost, which can be significant, so consider personalising all your glasses from the same company.

Your customer will hold in their hand and drink from your unique, branded glassware; a tangible, tactile object that will be constantly seen throughout the meal. A well-designed glass can become a discussion piece, perceived as something new, different and exciting.

Complementing any branded flatware, this is another opportunity to add branding to the dining experience.

Some things are worth bragging about, and your brand should be one of them. Personalised glasses help to make the very best of the wines you have so carefully selected. It is precisely this attention to detail that will help to set you apart from the competition.