Dishwasher-safe glasses
Dishwasher-safe glasses
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Do you have problem with cloudy wine glasses and want to know how best to clean them? Then read on...

Digby Scott, Market Rasen, UK, asks in Decanter’s March 2018 issue: My wine glasses have a cloudiness staining the insides. Is there a way to get rid of this?

Ronan Sayburn MS replies: Cloudy wine glasses are due to a build up of hard-water minerals plus the extended time your stems spend in the dishwasher during the cycle – especially the high heat of drying.

Commercial glass-washing machines used in restaurants have mineral filters to avoid this, and the wash cycle only lasts a few minutes.

At home I always wash glasses by hand in hot water and very little if any detergent, then immediately polish with a dry cotton or microfibre cloth. Once on your glasses, this cloudiness is hard to remove.

You could try soaking the glasses in vinegar to dissolve the minerals, or rub the affected areas gently with bicarbonate of soda or nail polish remover, and then washing and drying by hand.

I’ve also heard effervescent denture cleaners can help!

If any of these methods work (and they might not if the minerals have permanently scratched your glasses), avoid using your dishwasher in the future or the problem will return. Otherwise you might have to put this down to experience and invest in some new stems.

Ronan Sayburn MS is head of wine for London members’ club 67 Pall Mall. This question is taken from Decanter magazine’s March 2018 issue. Subscribe to Decanter here.

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Ronan Sayburn MS
Ronan Sayburn MS
Decanter Magazine, Wine Writer & Master Sommelier

Ronan Sayburn MS holds the position of Chief Operations Officer for the Court of Master Sommeliers’ European chapter.  He runs his own consultancy and wine training company – The RS Wine Academy, specialising in managing private portfolios, wine training to the trade and public and wine events. He is a Master Sommelier, previous winner of the UK Sommelier of the Year competition and competed twice representing the UK in the European Sommelier Competition.He is also Head of Wine for a private members’ club in St James, specialising in fine wines, known as 67 Pall Mall, which has a collection of close to 5,000 references by the bottle and 500 wines by the glass. He stepped into the role of Regional Chair for USA at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards, he first judged the competition in 2004.