Wine Glasses, How Do They Affect Wine?

Wine Glasses, How Do They Affect Wine? – Episode #111

October 19, 2006

Wines tasted in this episode:

Spreadsheet courtesy of Chris Stanisci
2003 Walter Hansel Pinot Noir North Slope
Caymus 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon SOLD OUT

Today Gary tackles a very important topic that many people discuss and debate at a fever pitch in the wine industry. Gary grabs two great wines and attacks this subjuct head first, please join in the discussion and let us know what you think. Also this is tell your friends thursday. Pass the WLTV word around!

229 Responses

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October 20, 2006

Julius
Matthew L – When you’re going to a friend’s house for dinner, bringing a bottle of wine for that friend is a gift. It’s up to your friend to decide whether it will be served with dinner. He or she may have already selected a wine. So the wine can be anything you choose. If, however, it was previously determined that you would be bringing the wine specifically for that dinner, then you should ask what’s on the menu so that you will be able to select an appropriate wine.
October 20, 2006

joe
Gary:

What is the best order to drink Pinot and Cab. You drank the pinot first in this episode. Often, I find that drinking the relatively sweeter/smoother pinot before a more dry and tannic red, like Cabernet, makes the Cab seem excessively bitter. I wonder if the prefered order should be cab before pinot?

Last night, in LA, we drank a 2004 Sea Smoke Ten Pinot before a 2002 Hourglass Cabernet. The Hourglass seemed bitter by comparison and I am sure did not show as well if the order was reversed. We almost got into a fight over the order to drink the wines. Can you provide guidance?

Joe in LA.
October 20, 2006

Brandon M
Great call on the Simon and Garfunkle Big B!
October 20, 2006

Big Billy from Big D
I am a fan of Jancis Robinson.

An announcement today in sfgate.com/wine/

“The third edition of the Oxford Companion to Wine (815 pages, $65), edited by Chronicle contributor Jancis Robinson, has just been released.

The 6-pound, 8-ounce tome is heavier than many a healthy baby. Yet this wine encyclopedia is not a book that cries for constant attention — you don’t read the 3,900 entries cover to cover. Instead, turn to it for definitions of “riddling” (to lightly shake bottles of fermenting bubbly) and when wondering where the best vineyards are in Zimbabwe (25 miles east of Harare). ”

Here’s to you Mrs. Robinson

I hope someone gives me this for Christmas. on the other hand this release will drop the price on remainders and used copies of the 2d edition.

Chin chin
October 20, 2006

SS Chris
Oh…forgot…GeneV’s comment was #133
October 20, 2006

SS Chris
QUESTION: Is GeneV another VaynerPERSON (like GaryV and lizV)??
October 20, 2006

Matthew L
Gary…the lavendar on lavendar works. Especially if you had on a charcoal grey or a dark tan suit. I think Regis kinda killed any love for monochromatic combinations. He got the “pimp” moniker and it kind of stuck.

Question: You’re going to a friend’s house for dinner and want to bring a bottle of wine. You don’t know what’s for dinner. What are you thoughts on what varietal to bring, and how much should one spend on the bottle? Mind you…your friend appreciates wine, but is not an oenophile.
October 20, 2006

SS Chris
Brandon M.,

You are so right…we had a GREAT time and I know my boys will remember the experience forever. What’s better than that…right?
October 20, 2006

Brandon M
SS Chris…not a Mets fan, and well…you did KILL my beloved Dodgers. However, there are few things better than a father taking his kids to a ball game (no matter how old his kids get…Dad….you readin this?)

B
October 20, 2006

Matthew L
Thanks Gary. I have a number of glasses, but mainly red, white and flutes. I have a couple of different sizes for the reds. All-in-all, I don’t really notice that much of a difference in the taste of the wine. I think the glasses affect the bouquet more than anything else.

I enjoyed a couple glasses of Rock Rabbit 2003 Syrah last night. I am saving a nice Cote du Rhone for the 1st game of the world series tomorrow. GO GO GO TIGERS!!!
October 20, 2006

SS Chris
BRANDON M., You’re trying to be nice now about the METS…don’t think I didn’t see your “Go Cardinals” posting. You Bast*ard!!! LOL
October 20, 2006

Brandon M
Maybe we are wine snobs and just don’t want to admit it.
October 20, 2006

Susan
TampaSteve-
I don’t have the funds to buy anything right now.
But at some point in the next few months,
I will buy a few nice Riedel glasses.
I am glad for good education to know which glasses to buy.
In the end, that will actually save me money.
October 20, 2006

SS Chris
STALLION, You can get DWIGHT on nbcuniversalstore.com

I need to order another for myself, they’re $15 w/ $7 shipping. If I order 2 the shipping goes up only a buck to $8 for two. You want me to order one for you too and will both save a few bones. I can bring it to the PARTY or leave it with someone at WL (if that’s better). Let me know.

Actually, don’t you work there?
October 20, 2006

Steve
Since the real difference is in the nose, and some in the taste, I think the aeration is the key factor. Therefore, the wider and bigger the glasses, the more aeration it gets, (i.e. Bordeaux glass gets more than a champaign glass in the SAME amount of time.) Therefore, I wonder if it would be more fair by tasting the bigger glasses first, and thus allowing more time, and aeration, to the smaller glasses.

Another way is to smell all of the glasses right away and talk about the nose first. Then, go into tasting starting with the biggest glass. This may be a better way in my opinion, (or what I would do if I have the complete set of Ridel glasses!)

Great episode. Your rock!
October 20, 2006

Big Billy from Big D
Today in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine section (sfgate.com/wine) the lead feature is exactly on subject with WLTV Ep. 111.

The article is primarily a little love fest in praise of Riedel, it does add some more in depth information about the topic of wineglass shape proliferation. Interestingly, Riedel began the Sommelier series in 1958 with the Burgundy Grand Cru and has since added more than 40 (!) different shapes to cover innumerable eventualities.

Heaven help us.
October 20, 2006

TampaSteve
All this education is great and wonderfull. However I see one problem, you get SPOILED. I have found it difficult to go out to a restaurant anymore. I no longer want to shell out $75 plus a bottle to open it and drink it right away without proper decanting, so this is how it usually goes: I have to first decant my own wine at home, refill the bottle and get dirty looks from almost every restaurant I go to (other than the regulars). They may have a corkage fee but I have found that most retaurants HATE when you bring your own wine. Few will even want to touch the bottle, nevermind refill your glass. Then comes the glassware issue, most restaurants have poor stemware. After this lesson, do I need to bring my own stemware also? Now if I want to shell out a few hundred dollars everytime I go out I can go to very high end restaurants that do have proper glassware and service. You get my point. This is all great and wonderfull but somewhere we have to have a nice balance….either that or we will all be eating out and going broke because we need to go to 5 star restaurants or stay home where we know we have everything right….it’s a mixed blessing.
October 20, 2006

Brandon M
I went out and bought the Sommelier Water glasses and put my Sommelier Bordeaux Grand Cru next to it. I pored Aquafina in both. The Aquafina tastes light and refreshing in the Sommelier water glass, but tastes slimey, almost Arrowhead like, in the Bordeaux glass.

At $100 a glass, I suggest everyone try this.

Riedel has a sparkling wine glass, why don’t they have a sparkling water glass? Now what am I gonna drink my Pelligrino out of?

B
October 20, 2006

Brandon M
Lynn…the best advice I could give is to go get Riedel Ouveture Red wine and Riedel Ouveture White wine glasses. They are very affordable compared to the other Riedel Stemware, it’s versatile because you can serve the majority of wines in them, and you and your friends still get the feeling of drinking from glasses made by Riedel. This is what I did for a long long time.

Most places you can pick up a set of 4 each for around $145 bones, which isn’t bad for a full set of Riedel.

B
October 20, 2006

TampaSteve
So how many of you have went out and bought new glassware?
October 20, 2006

Julius
While I agree with much of what Karen (comment #76) says, there does seem to be a major flaw. I thought that taste WAS a perception, and a personal one at that. It’s why a piece of fine chocolate can make one person have an orgasm and make another person gag. It’s why I hate bananas, which is known to be the most universally liked foods. But Riedel is in the business to sell glasses so of course there going to tell their story. I have some Riedel Vinum Bordeaux glasses, with less than I started. Because of their fragility, I replaced the broken ones with Spiegelau. The bowls are identical and they were less than one third the cost. I think that the large bowls of the bordeaux and/or burgundy glass are going to let a wine “breathe” and allow it’s aroma/bouquet
to develop and for one to “perceive” (and enjoy) it. The way that Gary tastes the wine makes me believe that the idea that the “wine glass is fine-tuned to direct the flow of the wine onto parts of the palate that will best express the flavors and aromas of a specific wine varietal” is superfluous. And while I can accept that there would be a noticeable difference in the perception of a wine tasted in both a Champagne flute and Bordeaux glass, I can’t believe that there is any noticeble difference when comparing the wine in a red Burgundy and Montrachet glass.
October 20, 2006

GeneV
Gary,

I’m another big fan of the 13 oz Chianti glass for tastings and for everyday drinking. It is versatile and a superb glass for comparing different wines. I use this glass more than any other in my collection. On the other hand, IMHO, Pinot seems more affected by using the glass dedicated to it than any other.

Someone else is a big fan of at this size glass–Robert Parker. I started a thread on oversize glassesa while back on the Squires BB early this year and Parker himself responded with his fondness for this type of glass, especially for everyday drinking. It allows a responsible pour to be properly aerated–filling 1/3 of the glass.
October 20, 2006

Rick W.
Gary,

The bigest difference to me in tasting out of different glasses is the lip! When you drink from a more expensive glass it has a straight edge vs a cheaper glass that has a lip. The nose will not make a difference in the same shape, but the palette will change dramatically!

Rick W.
October 20, 2006

Lawrence Leichtman
Went to a Reidel tasting with 5 varieties of glasses and noted a huge difference for some wines but not all. did not see as much with the white wines though the Sauvignon Blanc glass seems to bring out acidity more. Burgundies and Cabs were major differences and I was quite surprised. After that I bought three types Burgundy, Bordeaux and Sauvingnon Blanc.

Don’t the judged tastings and people like Parker and Tanzer use the standard small (3.75 ounce) glasses for rating? If that is the case they emphasize flaws more than the right glass. Could that cause some of the major rating differences we see between the different publications? Perhaps if the right glasses were used we might see totally different ratings.
October 20, 2006

Justin D
Well my wife thinks I am crazy with glasses, but I guess I am. I will not go back to a BYOB with bad glasses especially with a good bottle. Sometimes I bring my own glass andd she hates that. My nightmare is the Italian restruant that uses the very THICK and very old school glasses (that happens at least once in every 10 times I go to a new BYOB).

On one visit to your store one of your salesmer directed me tward the Ravenscroft line which I use all the time and think is a good product.