Glass Tasting.

Yep. Glass Tasting. If you've ever been with me at a decent to high end restaurant, you know that I always ask the server for a red wine glass. I don't do it for the snob factor, because believe it or not, it actually makes a difference.

About 10 years ago, Kenny, our friends ,Bob and Cindy, and I went to a wine class weekend in the Hyatt at Beaver Creek. It was great. The first class we went to was glass tasting. At first, I thought I misread the agenda. Don't they mean wine tasting? No glass tasting. It was being sponsored and led by Riedel, the makers of expensive wine glasses. Aha! I get it. We have to sit through this spiel so they can get a few suckers to buy their wares. Right. I'm so on to them......so I thought.

We sit in front of a water glass, a mug, a Riedel white wine glass, and a Riedel red wine glass. They do their little routine about how the shape of the glass is the key to how the wine tastes, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, right, right.....let's get on with the drinking. It's almost 1030 in the morning.

(For emphasis, another friend Cindy illustrates the feelings I felt when drinking wine at the class)

Finally we get to the important part. We are told to pour white wine into the mug. I pour it into the mug, take a sip and think "this is okay wine". Then they tell us to pour the wine into the Riedel white wine glass and take another drink. I drink from the glass and think "wow"! Is that the same wine? I can't believe it. I repeat the mug drink "Hmm, okay". I sip from the Riedel glass "wow"! Okay, okay. It's a fluke. A glass can't make a difference, can it?

In order to really prove their point that the type of glass is important to enjoying the "real" taste of the wine, they bring us new Riedel glasses and tell us to pour our white wine in the red wine glass. Now taste the white wine now. It's just a little better than the mug. Short finish, one flavor. We do the same with the red wine and pour it in the white wine glass. Eh. Whatever with this wine.And then we repeat the whole process.

White wine, white wine glass. Red wine, red wine glass. Heavenly.

After everyone in the room is thoroughly impressed, they tell us why it is so.


The bowl of the glass allows the oxygen to mix with the wine, so a larger bowl works well with the red wine because it lets the tannins and oak flavors release. A white wine glass does not have a big bowl because it doesn't have tannins or oak. The design of the lip of the glass is also important. It positions where your tongue first touches the wine and positions the wine on various places of the tongue. As you can see from the picture, we have four different major tastes - sweet, salty, sour and bitter.

If the lip is thick, the wine will go more towards the back of your mouth were the bitter area is located. A thin lip will allow the wine to enter the center of your tongue where there is a mix of sweet and salty, giving the drinker a pleasant experience. Then the shape of the glass near the lip is important. A rounder glass will give the drinker more time on the tongue. More time on the tongue allows for all the complex flavors of a red wine to come forward. A straighter line at the lip of the glass will "throw" the wine on to the front of your tongue. So even a pinot grigio may seem sweetish.

With all that, we bought some glasses! Who could not buy with all that cool new information?

Right now I'm drinking a red table wine, J. Moreau & Fils, from France for only $6.45. I'm drinking out of a stemless, pseudo-Riedel glass with a medium size bowl with an average line near the lip. Perfect for the type of wine.

Remember imbibe and enjoy!