Luigi Bormioli

Start with the drink, not with the series. For wine, the bowls from 35 to 70 cl set the tone: a wider bowl gives red wine air, a narrower one keeps white wine cool for longer. For gin and tonic the house makes remarkably generous balloon glasses of 65 to 80 cl, in which ice, tonic and garnish all fit together without the drink spilling over the rim.

For the bar, tumblers are the core. A double old fashioned of around 36 cl is the classic size for whisky with a large ice cube, while a hi-ball of 37.5 cl or more is there for long drinks. If you want to carry one series across the whole table, look at the series that have both wine glasses and tumblers, flutes and coupes. Speakeasies Swing and Bach are the most complete in that respect. With the carafes, pay attention to the closure: an airtight stopper keeps liqueurs and spirits tasting as they should.

The Italian order of service is a pleasant guide. The evening starts with the aperitivo in a tumbler or a generous balloon glass, with a gin and tonic poured down the side of the glass so the fizz stays in. With the meal come the wine bowls, filled to the widest point of the bowl and no higher.

After dinner the glass gets smaller and the aroma more important. A port glass of around 19 cl or a liqueur glass of about 23 cl gives an amaro or grappa just enough room. An espresso martini belongs in a small, well-chilled cocktail glass such as the 17 cl Nick and Nora. For an old fashioned you reach instead for the heavy tumbler with the thick base, where you can press down the sugar cube and fit one large ice cube. The double-walled coffee glassware from the Thermic Glass series belongs to this part of the evening too: the double wall keeps a latte macchiato or an Irish coffee warm without the glass becoming too hot to hold.

The crystal glass of this house is lead-free and developed specifically not to cloud over in the dishwasher. That is exactly where ordinary crystal glass falls short: after a year of washing it turns milky and never regains its shine. So these glasses can simply go in the machine, including a commercial glasswasher.

The stems are drawn from a single piece rather than attached, which turns the weakest point of a bowl into its strongest. Rims are laser-finished, so thin and smooth without a thickened bead. Do treat that rim as the most vulnerable part: don't stack the glasses inside one another and stand them upright in the rack rather than on their rim.

If you are after the sturdier, everyday Italian glassware from the same city, you end up with Bormioli Rocco, a different house with a range of its own. For the roomy balloon shapes, look at the gin and tonic glasses, and anyone wanting to complete the table setting will find the matching jugs and decanters among the carafes. If you would rather have a broad overview by wine style than by brand, you are better off starting with the wine glasses, where the bowls of every house stand side by side and you can compare them on shape and capacity.