What Wine Towels Does Everyone Recommend?

[JoelD]

I have really gone down the rabbit hole with glassware. I mostly Zalto and Gabriel Glass(these gold edition really are worth the price difference, thanks Patrick!)

However, now that I use these hand blown glasses, I am struggling to dry them properly without getting little specks of lint or dust or whatever it is that seems to cling to my wine towels. I currently use the Riedel towels, and also tried a new type from Funfel that I got on amazon. However after 1-2 wash cycles, they always seem to have crap on them. I wash on delicate, and hang dry.

Anyone have any solutions? Maybe I am doing something wrong? Maybe there are better towels out there? Or will this be this issue with all? They are always good for the first use or two and almost seems like they degrade.

[Racer Chris]

any microfiber cloth should work fine. The two glass Gabriel Standart set I purchased came with a decent one.

[stefan]

I don't dry wine glasses with a towel. After hand washing with hot water I rinse them well with water from our reverse osmosis container and hang them upside down to dry.

[Nicklasss]

Exactly like stefan. And I think i picked it up from MichaelP in 2002. Rinse and clean by brushing with your hands with medium hot water. Fill with really warm water. Let sit for an hour or two. Empty the glass and let dry upside down. They will end clean enough, and without any contaminating aromas (wet towel, wet dog, dish soap).

Like most of thing, simplicity is normally working well.

Nic

[JoelD]

I don't dry wine glasses with a towel. After hand washing with hot water I rinse them well with water from our reverse osmosis container and hang them upside down to dry.

For drying upside down, they always seem to leave water spots. Even with hot water. Maybe the reverse osmosis is the trick? Sadly I don't have access to that though.

[stefan]

Yes, the water must be close to 100% H_2O to avoid water spots, Joel. Our city water is full of salt and contains too much chlorine as well.

[JimHow]

I put my Riedel vinum series glasses in the dishwasher, I wash my Riedel sommelier series the way Nicola and Stefan describe, warm water, then turn them upside down to dry.

[JoelD]

Yes, the water must be close to 100% H_2O to avoid water spots, Joel. Our city water is full of salt and contains too much chlorine as well.

Good info, thanks Bill. Maybe rinsing with warm distilled water after washing?

[stefan]

Sure, distilled water is fine. I don't bother with warming the water, but then I do not have to worry about how much I use. I used to be sparing with the pure water, and some of our old glasses are etched at the lip from the residual salt from the city water we used for washing the glasses. Now I rinse thoroughly with the pure water to get rid of essentially all of the residual salt from the tap water.

Reverse osmosis water is cheap; maybe five cents per gallon if you have a unit. Bought from a store it is under $1 per gallon. Distilled water is probably about the same price even though it is more expensive to produce.

[AKR]

Threads like these remind me of what a peasant I am

[OrlandoRobert]

Threads like these remind me of what a peasant I am

Me too!

[JoelD]

Threads like these remind me of what a peasant I am

I figured this would come off as pretentious. Really I am just OCD. That's better, right?

[DavidG]

I use whatever dry non-fuzzy cotton dish towels are at hand. The main thing is not to use fabric softener when washing or drying the towels.

[tim]

A lot of it depends on how hard your water is. In Paris, I would wash and hang my glasses but they always had spots on them. But the water in Paris is notoriously hard with lots of calcium.

[stefan]

Hard is better than soft, Tim. Unless you like to salt your wine.

[Jay Winton]

I occasionally put my vinums in the dw but my everyday red stem are Reidel restaurant glasses which have survived for years in the dw. Always allow the glasses to cool completely before unloading them.