chez mistral

Do Wine Glasses matter?

The recent formal dinner I attended at our friends' house in Villeneuve lez Avignon convinced me that we needed to upgrade. Our collection of glasses bought at Auchan in Le Pontet would no longer do. I hate Le Pontet, reminds me of the nameless, souless real estate on US 1 in New Jersey.

So let's look at our options here. At the top end is Riedel in Austria. Their collection of crystal glasses is outstanding (style), outlandish (prices) and you ask yourself if this huge variety of glasses is really necessary. Where do you store the many glasses anyway? If you buy their Vinum Collection you have 25 different types of glasses. So let's say you opt to buy 10 glasses each you end up with 250 glasses. Not enough space in our kitchen in Avignon, that's for sure!

At the other end of the spectrum are the INAO glasses. INAO is our much beloved Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (National Institute of the Appellation System). This is a government bureaucracy controlling the French appellation system, which has run out of control. Did you know we have 467 wine appellations in France? Ever heard of AOC Château-Grillet? The glass INAO designed and approved for wine tastings is 6 inches tall and holds 7 1/4 ounces. A slightly larger glass holds 10 1/2 ounces and stands 6 7/8 inches tall.

I am confused. If glass shapes and sizes enhance taste - this is what manufacturers like Riedel maintain - why does INAO propagate just one shape? And why this shape? The official explanation is that the egg shape bowl is designed to fully enhance the concentration of aroma and allow the wine to be swirled without spilling. Is there any scientific evidence that wine glass shapes and sizes enhance taste? Have you ever wondered what wine taste really means? I came across the following explanation:

1. the strength and profile of the wine's aroma, also called the bouquet or nose
2. the strength of the individual flavours and its overall impact
3. the impact of acidity, sweetness and bitterness, the three important basic tastes in wine
4. the texture of the wine, how does it feel in the mouth, its body

Now to the scientific evidence. A 2001 paper The influence of wine glass shape on perceived aroma and colour intensity in wines comes to the conclusion that a major factor in "enhancing" aroma is the ratio of the glasses cup diameter to the diameter of its opening. But that there is no evidence that glass style has an impact on taste, flavour or mouthfeel in wines. In other words, the use of a particular wine glass is primarily based on tradition, but the diameter of wine surface and diameter of the glass mouth matter for the aroma. So theoretically we could do with just one wine glass - and this is what tasters do. There is an ISO wine glass which is quite similar to the INAO version and optimizes the aroma feature for all wines.

So let's leave the Riedel collection to the serious glass collector or the Nouveau Rich and let's look at a practical solution: 4 types of glasses taking care of tradition and aroma enhancement at the same time:

1. No.1 - Young Red Wine: fill it up only to its widest diameter, the largest surface. Gently swirl it around for the aromas to develop. The extremely narrow mouth prevents rapid evaporation, the aroma concentrates inside. Aroma is important on young reds, such as many of our Southern Côtes du Rhônes. This glass is also great for rosé wines and spirits, like Cognac or our Rasteau Rancio.
2. No.2 - White Wine: they need more time to develop aroma and taste. Gently swirl it around for a more prolonged time than the reds. Its aromas will be released slowly, the long stem prevents the glass from warming up in your hand. The narrow mouth prevents evaporation of the aroma.
3. No.3 - Mature Red Wine: they are delicate and must be treated with care. They must air well and the larger surface diameter does just that. Again, you fill the glass only up to this point, i.e. where you get the largest surface area. The complex aroma of a mature red wine will develop nicely.
4. No.4 - Champagne: according to the manufacturer the bubbles will develop from bottom to top and aid the airing process. What do you know! I will test this one next time. I have a slight suspicion that this shape is solely based on tradition.

I guess what is common to most wine glasses used by expert wine drinkers is the design of a large surface diameter and a narrower mouth. And that makes eminently sense to me. The glasses in the photo are the "Les Impitoyables" series, in English the "The Pitiless", great name for a wine glass! Very popular crystal glasses in France. Sell for around Euro 40 per glass - pretty steep yet half the price of a Riedel. Don't know if they are available in the US but there must be other manufacturers around with similar designs.

The budget solution are INAO type wine glasses, the simple version can be had for Euro 2.00 - 3.00 per glass.

2006-06-13 | posted by Eve Collins | Filed under: blog/wine tastings, etc.

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