Shape Matters

Once upon a time I owned six Riedel red Burgundy glasses, the Vinum series. These are the glasses with the rather large bowls and the tapered lip, perfect for nurturing the delicate aromas of Pinot Noir, and designed to deposit the wine at the precise point on the tasters tongue that will result in the optimal flavor experience. Or so says Riedel, anyway.

I like nice wine glasses as much as the next guy. A wine's subtleties really can be better appreciated when drinking from certain glasses. Some of this is simply the size of the glass - good red Burgundy from a 4 oz. orange juice glass would be tragic because the aromas would dissipate into the air. And shape matters too. You can drink Champagne from a flute, for example, and it does indeed look beautiful that way. But drinking Champagne from a white wine glass allows the aromas to be appreciated in a whole different way. A Champagne coupe doesn't do enough to trap the aromas and is probably best used to serve cocktails.

As long as a basic minimum of quality is present, I'm not all that picky about a wine glass. I want it to be big enough so I can pour a few ounces of wine and swirl a bit. And I want a tapered shape to help trap the aromas. I do prefer to drink Champagne and other sparkling wines from a white wine glass. Other than that, I've never been much of a believer in the idea that specific glass shapes are better for specific wines. Seems like alchemy, or like putting lipstick on a pig.

But the other night my lack of faith was put to the test. My pal Adam and his wife brought a bottle of 2002 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Boudriotte to dinner at my place. But of those six Vinum glasses there are merely two remaining, the rest unlucky victims of various sink collisions, or in one case, a cavalier paper towel drying program. Would I be forced to serve this fine red Burgundy in white wine glasses?

Then I remembered that four years ago while trying to use a wedding-related store credit at Tiffany, I lost my patience in the vase section of the store and in 5 short minutes became the owner of two utterly enormous wine glasses, small bath tubs really. These would be the Sommelier series Pinot Noir glasses. They have a special flared lip to direct the wine to the mid-portion of the tongue. Honestly they cost something like $100 each, and therefore cannot rationally be used or washed, because they surely would shatter. Just touching them results in a gong-like humming. We have used these glasses maybe twice since we purchased them.
So the Ramonet went into two Vinum glasses (Sommelier above left, Vinum above right) and two Sommelier glasses-on-steroids. And you know what? It was a far superior wine from the big Sommelier glasses. At 13.5%, from the Vinum glasses there was unpleasant alcohol heat on the nose. From the Sommelier glasses, just pure earthy mossy dark fruited sumptuousness. And the wine tasted better too from this glass, which is no surprise because so much of flavor is tied to aroma. The difference was such that I probably would not have liked the wine if tasted only from the Vinum glass, but I would happily buy the wine in the Sommelier glass.

So now I will tell you two more things: I will use these glasses exclusively to drink Pinot until they also break, and BrooklynLady so far has followed through on her promise/threat to drink her every liquid from one of these glasses. I might also purchase two of the Sommelier series Chenin Blanc glasses with what's left of my retirement account.