Tag Archive: wine glasses

Wine For Newbies 101 Lesson 5: Get a good wine glass

Written on January 4, 2010 by William Wilson in Wine 101
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Wine glasses may be one of the most overlooked and misunderstood pieces of wine “stuff.” I see it all the time in restaurants when I order wine. The waiter brings me some small wine glass filled up almost to the top. It’s enough to drive a wine enthusiast crazy. Fortunately, there are plenty of restaurants that understand proper wine glasses and are not afraid to use them.

Budding wine enthusiasts need to understand what a good wine glass is as well, and they need to use them. As mentioned in an earlier lesson, almost all of what we perceive as flavors in wine are really the result of aromas we detect. Because aromas are central to the wine experience, it will help you greatly if you use a wine glass that focuses those aromas for you.

The best wine glass is one that features a good size tulip-shaped bowl (that’s what we call the part above the stem). You want it to be good sized so that you can pour four or five ounces of wine yet still have plenty of room to swirl the wine. (This is the primary fault that so many restaurant wine glasses have–the bowl is too small and filled too high. Any swirling usually ends up on me or my neighbor wearing the wine instead of me drinking it.)

The tulip-shape of the bowl is the other important characteristic: it directs the aromas up into an area just above and below the rim of the glass. Wine glasses without a tulip-shaped bowl scatter the aromas so they are harder to detect.

My own preference for wine glasses comes in the form of the Riedel Overture Bordeaux Magnum glass. [Disclosure: That link is an affiliate link to the glass at Amazon.com.] Although I have a variety of Riedel varietal-specific wine glasses (Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling/Chianti, Syrah, ice wine, Champagne flutes), I find that this particular wine glass has the right size and shape for most purposes. As I mention on the Marketplace page, there’s a reason so many wine tasting rooms use these glasses as their glassware.

Do you need to buy these specific wine glasses? No, definitely not. For some people they are a little pricey. Others may prefer to look at and hold the glasses in hand before making a buying decision. For folks in the U.S., you can find many Riedel glasses at Target Stores, which gives you a chance to check them out. There are also glasses made by Spiegelau (which is now owned by Riedel) and many other brands.

The name on the box of wine glasses is not as important as the size and shape. While the Riedel “O” and similar stemless wine glasses are trendy, I do not recommend them. You really want to keep your fingers and hand off of the bowl–the heat from your hand will transfer to the wine, and that can affect the taste of the wine. Thus, a stemmed glass is always preferable.

Where else can you buy wine glasses? The Wine Enthusiast catalog has an extensive selection of glassware. How easily they can ship outside the US is a good question. IWA also has a nice selection, but again they may be limited to shipping in the United States. If anyone outside the US has suggestions for good glassware sellers, please leave a note in the comments!

Your Homework: If you do not already have one, borrow a proper wine glass from someone. Pick up a bottle of Merlot or Pinot Noir (or any other wine for that matter) and pour a few ounces into the wine glass. Before you swirl, sniff, and sip, take a water glass with straight or flared sides (you can even use a jelly or mason jar) and pour roughly the same amount of wine into it. Swirl, sniff, and taste the wine from each glass. Do you notice a difference? How would you describe the difference between the two?

To turn in your homework, leave your observations and data on the wine as a comment to this post or over at our Facebook page.

Audio

More Wine For Newbies 101

Lesson 4–Evaluating wine, part 2
Lesson 3–Evaluating wine, part 1
Lesson 2–Learning to taste wine
Lesson 1–Is learning about wine difficult?

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The very best wine glasses ever

Written on December 3, 2008 by William Wilson in Your Wine Education
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As I was assembling the Wine For Newbies Marketplace, I was thrilled to see that Amazon carries the Riedel Overture Magnum red wine glasses. Although I raved about these a bit on the Marketplace page, I just have to give them a big promotion here.

These wine glasses are hands down the best ones I own. I own Riedel Chianti glasses, Sauvignon Blanc glasses, ice wine glasses, Pinot Noir glasses, Syrah glasses, Champagne glasses, and some I probably have forgotten about. Still, whenever I’m having wine, I’m always reaching for and pulling down one of these Overture Magnums (so called since they are larger in size). When we have our wine tasting group over, regardless of what we’re having, I use these glasses.

It’s noteworthy, too, that a number of wineries use them in their tasting rooms.

They are not the cheapest wine glasses, but they are far from the most expensive. Get yourself a set of four. Get your friends a set of four. Looking for gifts for those hard-to-buy people? These are perfect–everyone can always use a set of good wine glasses.

Now, it’s time for me to go open some wine and enjoy one of these excellent pieces of stemware.

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Lesson 5.5: What’s next in your wine education?

Written on September 22, 2008 by William Wilson in Wine, Your Wine Education
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From here on out, we’re getting serious. Very serious. So serious that you’re going to have to do some work. It’s not hard work, but it requires some time and dedication.

The next phase of your wine education (from this site, anyway) is to begin exploring what many people call the “Big Six” grapes: Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. I don’t know why these six make up the “Big Six” other than they are pretty dominant in terms of plantings and wines available in the marketplace. I don’t know why Syrah/Shiraz isn’t included in place of Merlot. It is what it is, so we’ll have to live with the fact that the “Big Six” may include some grape varieties that you’re not entirely enthusiastic about. Deal with it. :-)

The best way for you to study these wines, and others, is to get a couple of bottles that represent different styles. Then you get to taste them and try to describe them. If you want extra credit, leave your description in the comments for each particular grape variety. (Seriously. If there was a way I could force you to turn in your homework assignments by leaving a comment, I would. Bloggers like me love comments. It tells us you’re reading and we’re not doing the written equivalent of talking to an empty room.)

When you buy the wines, I would aim for bottles that cost at least $10 US. I don’t think you need to go overboard, however, and buy $100 bottles of wine. (Well, if you’re Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, perhaps you can.) It’s getting harder and harder to find well-crafted wines for less than ten bucks. That’s not to say that sub-$10 wines are all bad. Some of them are quite drinkable, but they may not have the extra quality that helps you learn to distinguish a Cabernet Sauvignon from a Merlot, for example.

The other thing you may need unless you plan on finishing both bottles in one sitting is a way to preserve the wine that’s left over. My recommendation is the Vacu-Vin, and it’s dirt cheap. Pop the stopper in the bottle, use the pump to remove the air, and your bottle is preserved for a couple of weeks.

Why do you need to do this, you ask? It’s simple: when wine is exposed to air for too long, it begins to oxidize. Think of an apple you’ve cut and left on the counter for too long. The brownish color the apple begins to take on is oxidation. The same thing happens to wine, so you need to use something like Vacu-Vin to get the air out of the bottle. Otherwise your leftover wine will taste crummy. (Yes, that is the technical term.) (Yes, I was joking–about the term, not that the wine will taste bad.)

Finally, make sure you have a good tulip-shaped wine glass. I’m really partial to the Riedel Overture Magnum glasses. Even if you don’t want to buy Riedels (which at $10/glass are not cheap), take a look at the link so you at least see what they look like. Better yet, let me show you a few pictures:

Bad Wine Glass
Another Bad Wine Glass

Two bad wine glasses; don't buy them

A good wine glass; buy ones that look like this

A good wine glass; buy ones that look like this

Don’t worry for now about the difference between white wine glasses and red wine glasses. If you buy ones that look like the picture of the good wine glass, they will do just fine. Trust me–I’ve got bunches of Riedel varietal-specific wine glasses, and I find myself just using this stock Overture Magnum glass (it’s technically for reds, but it works fine with everything else, too).

That’s probably enough drill-sergeant barking for one article. Look for the next article where we dive headfirst (figuratively) into Riesling!

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Sidebar: Swirling wine

Written on August 20, 2008 by William Wilson in Wine, Your Wine Education
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This doesn’t quite fit in with a specific lesson, but it needs to be covered. You can’t sniff wine’s aromas if you don’t know how to swirl.

The first point is that you must have the proper wine glass. Glassware manufacturers love to come up with all sorts of fancy things that are lovely to look at, but basically stink when they are used to serve wine. They flare out (or simply straight up) and don’t give you a snowball’s chance in hell of swirling wine without getting it all over yourself.

What’s a proper wine glass? The bowl should have a tulip shape. Plain and simple. I like these, especially the magnum ones.

Next step–learning to swirl. This is what takes practice. Fortunately, the need to practice offers an excuse for drinking wine.

Basically, you want to move the bowl of the glass in a circular motion so it causes the wine to swirl up along the side of the glass. To get started, it may be easier to keep the glass on the table and move the base in a circular motion.

I prefer to do a few good quick swirls to get the wine moving and then take a few sniffs. A few more swirls, a few more sniffs.

Go ahead and take a sip.

The rest is all “rinse and repeat.” Until the glass is empty, anyway. Then you need to interrupt your practice session to refill.

Have any secrets or techniques to share? Leave a comment!

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