Great episode Gary! I couldn’t finish all the way through the Caymus though…got a lot of work to do today. Excellant episode actually.

As for the QOD: for the last three years, my wife has been getting me one of the Sommelier series of Riedel glasses. The first was the Bordeaux (freakin’ HUUUUGE glass…it’s crazy), the second was the Red Burgundy and last years was the Montrachet (unfortunately, I will probably never get to actually have some Montrachet in my Montrachet glass…but it still works for lower end white Burgs).

Anyway, I use these sparingly so that I don’t break them. But I use them for nicer wines, and when my wife is having wine with me, she uses our regular old Ikea glasses and we’ll both try the wine from each glass. And like you said, it really, really makes a difference mainly in the nose, but that’s one of the best parts of wine. So, I fully agree that the right glass makes a difference.

Sorry about your Mets…I was rooting for them. As a Cubs fan, I hate the Cardinals, but they are a good team. Go Tigers. And I know you won’t ever lose interest in your Jets. Football is great all around. Baseball gets boring, it’s a sport I watch when I’m kicking back on the couch and snoozing for an hour or so. Football is when I’m on the edge of the couch at full attention, and I’m sure you’re the same way.

Alright…see you later,
GO BEARS!!!
T

IMHO The physical considerations for wine glasses:
1) Tulip shape – absolutely essential for swirling. With the nice tulip shape you can swirl to your heartâ??s content. Try swirling in a Flintstones jelly glass (preferably with water) if you want a demonstration of the importance of the tulip shape. I think a taller bowl is better than a globe shaped bowl.
2) A nice big glass (not too big). The bowl size matters I think in terms of the capacity of our sinuses. When the aromatics form from the swirling I want a nice big gulp of those aromatics for my enjoyment. Unlike Bill Clinton, I freely admit to inhaling, itâ??s essential to the enjoyment of even a moderate plonk.

I have two basic sizes: a 24 oz Cab/Bordeaux glass that I actually use for every still wine, and a similar smaller 14 to 16 oz like the Chianti glass for whites. The two patterns mostly add an air of festivity at a small dinner party.

For parties my solution was to but pressed glass stem on sale at Cost Plus/World market. They come in made to measure corrugated boxes so handy for storage. I keep them in the attic. I have 24 champagne flutes, and 24 12 oz cap. still wine tulips. In addition I have about 50 wine charms to help folks identify whicvh of several identical glasses belongs to them at a party.

It isnâ??t as elegant, but it is practical.

I love my big Cab glasses.

Salud

Gary, I’m a big fan and don’t want to be a troublemaker, but why do I get lots of e-mails touting wines that certain wine publications rated highly when you frequently don’t agree with the ratings? Would you not agree that these wine publications for better or worse help you sell lots of wine, and that some/many are wines that you don’t think are all that good?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

So how many of you have went out and bought new glassware?

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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?

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?

Maybe we are wine snobs and just don’t want to admit it.

Maybe we are wine snobs and just don’t want to admit it.

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!!!

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

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.

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.

QUESTION: Is GeneV another VaynerPERSON (like GaryV and lizV)??

Oh…forgot…GeneV’s comment was #133

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