Glassware. You're Doing It Wrong.

by Annie Scott (RSS feed)
Jul 24th 2009 at 9:01AM

Maximilian Riedel of the famous Austrian Riedel wine glass family hosted a tasting this week which taught me more about wine than any wine tasting I've been to in years. How? Because it wasn't a wine tasting. It was a glassware tasting.

I knew the basics. I knew you're not supposed to drink white out of red glasses or red out of champagne flutes (or coffee mugs, but hey, we all went to college), but there was a lot I didn't know I didn't know about how much the shape of a glass can affect the taste and experience of a wine.

For example -- did you know that the basic near-spherical globe glass was designed for white? Chardonnay, to be specific. Also, according to Riedel, you should be drinking most champagnes out of the same glasses from which you should be drinking pinot noir. And wait till you see them.

Riedel Glas Austria's basic cabernet glass is the most highly produced and best selling wine glass in the world -- but, in fact, they recommend a much larger glass for cabernet, one they began making when they finally purchased their own machinery in 2004.

The big lesson I learned today? Grape specific glasses -- and they're not the ones you think they are. Click here to visit the Riedel website and shop by grape (even esoterics), but not before you click through the gallery below for more information and specifics.

Gallery: Riedel Glassware Tasting

Tags: glassware, riedel, tasting, wine glasses, wine tasting, WineGlasses, WineTasting

Filed under: Wine

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

scott.bc Jul 23rd 2009 5:25PM

annie, you need to take your country bumpkin parents for an evening of wine glass shopping. Gosh, we've done it all wrong

Great article!! Entertaining and enlightening.

rk Jul 26th 2009 12:08AM

"The shape of the glass effects the whole umami, or mouthfeel."

I'm curious as to the use of the word umami in this context. As far as I know, umami is one of the 5 basic tastes sensed by receptors on the tongue. It specifically deals with the detection of the carboxylate anion of glutamic acid, a naturally occurring amino acid common in meats, cheese, broth, stock, and other protein-heavy foods. [1]

I've never had wine that shares characteristics with this food. And I've never before seen usage of this word to describe the "feel" inside of ones mouth. Maybe I'm missing a particular etymology.

Could you please clarify? Thanks.

Pieter Smits Jul 27th 2009 8:45AM

We are using Riedel glasses, among others, to drink our Alsace and Bordeaux wines. Apart from 'nice' to look at and drink from, they are incredibly strong. Good to know, because they do cost well eh ... something ...
All and all a good wine glass DOES make a difference. Trust your senses!