Salut/Hi Roy,

le/on Wed, 14 Jan 2004 07:46:12 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

>Tom S wrote:

>> Some people claim that the shape of the glass makes a difference in the
>> flavor of the wine, and you really need a different shape of glass to
>> present each type of wine to best effect. That's the controversial part.
>> IMO that's just a marketing gimmick to get wine aficionados to buy more
>> glasses.
>
>Before having had some direct experience, I'd have believed as you.

Absolutely agree. I was one who poured scorn on the whole idea. Obviously,
within reason. We all know that there's world of difference between a good
wine glass and a cheap water tumbler, and that's at least in part down to
the difference in shape!

>years ago I was given Riedel Vinum Bordeaux and Zinfandel/Chianti glasses. I
>thought it was all pretty silly except for the fact that, even with my limited
>palate, there was absolutely no question that there were differences, both in
>the nose _and_ taste.

As I replied above, I have the enormous Riedels in their Bordeaux and
Burgundy shapes - in seconds - bought at their factory after carrying out a
comparative tasting there. I think the story is worth telling, because it
was for me a "Road to Damascus" experience. I had always poured scorn on the
twin claims made for the Riedel glasses that their internal surface
structure and the shape mattered for wine tasting.

In 2000, on my way back from Tokaj in Hungary, we stopped off at an Hotel
where I had stayed over 35 years previously to go skiing. The owner there
(who I'd dandled on my knee as a baby when I was last there) suggested we go
to the Riedel factory down the road, telling us that they often sold seconds
in their "back room". So as this was the _perfect_ opportunity to debunk
their claims, I bought our supper bottle of nice Austrian Cabernet Sauvignon
(as being the closest I could afford to a Cru Classé Bordeaux) early and
took it with us to see if we could persuade the staff to let us do a tasting
there.

On arrival, we made our request, and almost without blinking an eyelid, the
very pleasant receptionist salesperson said that we could, but that they
would have to assemble and wash the glasses. I asked for a vertical range of
the Bordeaux shape (from smallest to largest) as well as the big
Burgundies.That would let us see if these HUGE handblown glasses were
_really_ better than more sensibly sized ones, or whether it was simply
hype. After visiting the factory, I can tell you (I once did laboratory
glassblowing) that the glass blowing techniques did NOTHING out of the
ordinary to affect the surface structure inside the glasses. So in that
respect, the "surface structure" claims are entirely imaginary. The material
"glass" behaves like a (very thick) liquid, and so in principle, is
perfectly smooth unless roughened up in some way and I saw no evidence of
this. So I was quite ready to be very cynical over the shapes, when we came
out to do the tasting.

Well, we first of all did the vertical tasting, about 4 different sized
glasses, but all very much the same tulip shape, more or less the same shape
as the Berry Bros ones I drink from regularly. The one thing that was
immediately clear was that the wine tasted really very similar throughout
the range, although the two larger sizes showed it off better, with the top
one being extremely analytical, you could detect nuances and faults that the
lesser glasses didn't show up.

So then we poured some wine into the Burgundy glasses. First sniff showed
that despite all my expectations, the wine smelt significantly different.
Said nothing, passed to Jacquie, who's got little sense of smell, she says.
Her comment "Goodness me, that quite different." So that was one thing. In
which did the wine _show_ better. Hard to say, perhaps a better balance on
the nose in the Bordeaux. Then came the moment of tasting. Exactly the same
experience. The wine tasted different, and shwed better in the glass
designed for it (more or less). Again, Jacquie concurred.


>[It was this taste difference that _really_ surprised me.] But the "best" glass depended on the wine. Some Bordeaux were "better" in the Zin/Chianti glasses, for example, and sometimes we disagreed on which was
>"better" for the wine. [We _did_ have our own tastes. :-) ]

Completely agree in so far as it went (I've not tried Zins in either).

> And, as it turned out, we tended to prefer Sauternes in my _old_ glasses.

Our Sauternes glasses are a very odd shape. I am not sure which I prefer for
Sauternes, as I drink almost exclusively monbazillac when it comes to sweet
wines of the region.

>the shape of the glass didn't really make much difference, we could be happy
>drinking fine wine out of water glasses. :-)

I hope that smile is partly ironic, as I can't agree at all. I'd almost
prefer NOT to drink good wine than to drink it out of tumblers.


--
All the Best
Ian Hoare

Sometimes oi just sits and thinks
Sometimes oi just sits.