Glassware. You're Doing It Wrong.
Filed under: Wine
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.
