Pour yourself a little wine in a plastic beaker and also some in a decent wine glass, the sort that narrows towards the top. Now carefully swirl them both - not at the same time or you will spill some - and then smell the wine. I guarantee the wine in the glass will at least smell of something like a wine while the one in the plastic beaker won't.
I've just been to a presentation and tasting hosted by Riedel UK where the same wine was poured into two good quality wine glasses but of different shapes and the aromas were quite different. I did this twice putting an aged Coniglio Hawkes Bay chardonnay into Riedel's montrachet glass and then Riedel's sauvignon glass. The aromas in the montrachet glass were wonderful - buttery, creamy, vanillla and all quite intense. The aromas of the same wine but in the sauvignon glass were much less intense with more of an alcohol burn.
I then did this with an Aussie cabernet first of all pouring it in the right glass for the grape variety, Riedel's cabernet glass and then doing the same in their glass for pinot noir. Again the wine in the right glass for the grape variety smelled glorious. So there is no doubt in my mind that the shape of the glass does make a difference to the smell of the wine - and it also makes a difference to the taste as well. The same experiment with the two wines in the right and "wrong" glass did show a taste difference although for me the difference was not as huge as the aroma difference. The chardonnay didn't have the layers of flavour in the sauvignon glass than it had in the montrachet glass. The cabernet was jammy and alcoholic tasted from the pinot noir glass.
This can be explained by the way the juice hits your mouth and so which part of your palate gets the benefit of it. Different parts of the mouth react in different ways to acidity, flavours and tannins. It follows therefore that, given the flow of the wine is affected by the shape of the glass directing the wine to specific parts of your mouth, the wine really does taste different.
I'm not suggesting for a moment that a different glass is needed for each grape varietal you drink but don't underestimate the shape of the glass you chose to drink your favourite wine out of. It is absolutely worth buying decent glasses to fully appreciate your wine.
5 comments:
The shape of the glass makes a huge difference but are you saying it has to be Riedel? Also, the flow of the wine into the mouth is not the reason the wine tastes different. Most of your mouth is exposed pretty much at the same time. Try pouring any liquid into just one part of your mouth. It's almost impossible. It's how the aromas are concentrated into the nose via the mouth that affects flavour. The nose is far more sensitive than the tongue.
No I'm not saying it has to be Riedel. However they are the quality wine glasses that seem to be available in most places.
I also agree that the nose is more sensitive than the mouth which is why I found the difference much greater on the nose than the palate.
It was a pleasure to sit with you at the tasting! I think it's safe to say we were both impressed with the difference in how the wine came across from glass to glass!
In case you have the urge to watch Maximilian explain it again, here's the link to my blog and short video from the tasting.
Happy Drinking! Tara
Riedel are great glasses and pretty much set the standard, but I recently received a set of Bormioli Rocco which are great too.
Details here: http://cambridgewineblogger.blogspot.com/p/equipment-basics.html
It was an interesting tasting and masterclass. Check out my website www.robertgiorgione.com for my write up and video.
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