Maximilian Riedel with a do-it-yourself wine-tasting kit, called the Key to Wine.Florian lLechner Voels/Supplied
A proper wine glass can elevate your drinking experience, but what’s proper might change with your setting, budget or the style of wine you’re enjoying. While fad and fashion influence how the style and shape of wine glasses evolve, selecting the best one remains a matter of personal taste or convenience.
Any old tumbler, goblet or jam jar can successfully transport liquid to your lips, but will they enhance the aromas, flavours and your enjoyment of its contents?
Back in 1958, Claus Riedel, a ninth-generation glass-maker, engineered wine glasses to highlight the nuances of individual grape varieties or wine styles. These sleek and elegant crystal stems shifted the focus from fashion to functionality. A set of those revolutionary stems is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s collection in New York.
The family company’s reach expanded with the launch of the more affordable, machine-made Vinum line in 1986. These grape-specific glasses were embraced by fine-dining restaurants and stocked by wineries who shared Riedel’s mantra that the size and shape of the bowl affects a wine’s flavour.
The company would use the Vinum shapes without stems to create its innovative O series of wine tumblers released in 2004. The squat shapes were stackable and dishwasher safe but proved to be a love/hate prospect for wine buffs.
The lack of a stem means you may alter the temperature of the wine with the heat of your hand, which changes the perception of its aroma and acidity, while risking smudged fingerprints on the glass surface as you inelegantly attempt to swirl and sip. The convenience factor has seen the tumbler collection expand to 15 different styles with a reported production of nearly 100 million tumblers from the family’s factory in Amberg, Germany, over the past two decades.
In honour of the 20th anniversary of the O series, Riedel has released a do-it-yourself tasting kit, called the Key to Wine, which includes a pinot noir, syrah and cabernet/merlot tumbler. An accompanying video features Maximilian Riedel, the 11th generation working in the business, introducing the concept, explaining he’s keen to show off “what the shape of glass can do to support your wine experience.” The exercise invites consumers to pour the same wine into the three glasses to see for themselves how the different shapes affect the perception of the wine.
Riedel designers take a scientific approach to creating their glasses. They look at the shape of the bowl and alter its angle to direct the wine’s flow to certain regions of the mouth for best enjoyment. For instance, the Riedel Vinum Extreme Icewine glass created for Inniskillin in 1999 was devised in an exaggerated flute shape that concentrates the aromas and, more importantly, delivers the nectar-like wine to the back and sides of the tongue. The Riedel team and others believe taste buds on the tip of our tongues are most sensitive to sweetness.
Research by chemosensory specialists, however, has concluded that’s not how our taste buds work. Our ability to taste sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami flavours isn’t neatly divided to different parts of the tongue. Those receptors are distributed all over.
New glassware companies entering the premium market are taking a more streamlined approach. Offering a few specific styles – white, red and sparkling – or opting for a one-size-fits-all approach to wine drinking. Gabriel-Glas, Zalto and British wine writer Jancis Robinson’s joint venture with designer Richard Brendon have developed stylish so-called universal wine glasses that are suitable for all colours of still and sparkling wines.
My first consideration when shopping for wine glasses is looking for clear, thin glass. I want an unspoiled view of the wine inside, free from etchings, painted motifs or slogans. I may, in fact, be a Wine Boss, but I don’t feel the need to advertise.
I also rule out any glasses with thick lips or chunky stems. A thin rim is the hallmark of a quality wine glass. It offers a more sensuous drinking experience by allowing the liquid to slide easily into your mouth. Other fundamental traits are a bowl large enough to swirl wine and good weight distribution for a well-balanced glass.
The Essentials
Over the years, my wine glass collection has narrowed through natural selection to these staples: two different styles of universal glasses and plastic tumblers, with a set of Riedel Vinum Pinot Noir balloon glasses that, against all odds, have survived countless dinner parties and multiple moves. Here some producers and styles I recommend.
Everyday Wine Glasses
Like many wine professionals, I have been quick to embrace the quality of the Gabriel-Glas StandArt Wine Glass ($45 a stem, rosehillwinecellars.com). It weighs a bit more than the company’s similarly shaped, hand-blown Gold Edition Glass ($265 a stem), which I think adds to the balance and drinking pleasure at dinner. Zalto meanwhile, can be credited with creating a market for an incredibly lightweight and thin glass versatile enough to be the only one you need. ($100 a stem, williamashley.com). I use them most days when tasting samples for review.
More affordable one-size-fits-all selections can be isolated from a large portfolio of glasses, such as the Riedel Vinum Syrah/Shiraz glass ($89 for two glasses, riedel.com) or the stemless version, Riedel O Wine Tumbler Old World Syrah ($39 for two glasses, riedel.com). If you’re partial to red over white wines, the Riedel Vinum Cabernet/Merlot glass is a good staple stem that’s often found on sale or at discount stores.
Shatterproof Glasses
Shatterproof wine glasses are a must for poolside and packing a picnic. I’ve also come to view them as essential when dining with infants and toddlers. Most are clunky with thick lips, which rules them offside. The long-standing brand champion is GoVino Shatterproof Wine Glasses ($29.99 for four, bestbuy.ca), with a shape that’s fun to hold, swirl and sip from. A more classic style is the Acopa Tritan Stemless Wine Glass ($11.99 a glass, cocktailemporium.com).