Katherine Cole: 'I have had it with stemware – enough already'

Sunday, 26 January, 2025
Decanter, Katherine Cole
As I move my belongings into the cabinets of my recently remodelled kitchen, I’m discovering that I have, over the years, been bamboozled into buying wine glasses in eight different shapes.

This is absurd. A reasonable person should only own one style of wine glass. I don’t need a towering Pinot Noir, a cavernous Cabernet Sauvignon, a bulbous Chardonnay and an abstemious Riesling glass. And yet, here they all are, vying for shelf space.

And now, there are new ‘must-have’ shapes on the market. One is modelled after a jet engine (by Melbourne-based Denver & Liely, released last November, £106). Another, the Cocoon (Stölzle Lausitz, £65-£70), has curves like the Venus of Willendorf. Given its vaguely natal name, I wonder if it was designed to appeal to women, who are, after all, three times more likely to drink wine than men, according to Gallup’s US market report for 2023.

But I will not be buying the ‘Cocoon’. Because I have had it with stemware. Enough already.

When women my age talk about abstaining from wine because we don’t like the way it makes us feel, we aren’t merely referring to morning brain fog and menopausal weight gain. We also resent the emotional baggage the wine industry has piled upon us. It’s interfering with our well-being.

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