The optimal wine drinking glass: what to look for

The glass you drink from has a huge impact on the taste bouquet, texture, flavour and finish of the wine. But why is that?

This article was created in partnership with RIEDEL

We put a lot of thought into enjoying our wine at its best. We ask questions like what temperature should this be served at? How Long should I decant it for? What should I pair it with? We know that all these things make a difference to the flavour and texture of a wine - so what about the glass? An experiment by RIEDEL showed that when the same wine was served in a variety of glasses, experienced connosseurs thought they were tasting different wines. So serving your wine in a glass that suits it can mean a world of difference.

The next step from recognising that the shape and size play a role in conveying the message of a fine wine, was to create glasses that showed the wine off to its best advantage. The resulting glasses have finely-tuned glass bowls that use 3 variables: shape, size and rim diameter; to convey the "message" of each vintage to the human senses. Each feature of the glass is designed with that message, consisting of the bouquet, texture, flavour and finish of the wine. For example, RIEDEL's glasses with rolled rims inhibit the flow of wine to accentuate acidity and harshness, whereas a cut rim has the opposite effect, allowing the wine to flow smoothly onto the toungue. 

In practice, this makes each glass, as RIEDEL say, a 'loudspeaker for wine'. Their Sommelier's 4400/16 glass, designed for red wines with high acidity and moderate tannin, has a wide, tulip shaped bowl to direct the wine to the tip of the toungue, where the human tastebuds best detect sweetness, to highlight the fruit and balance high acidity. 

By contrast, RIEDEL's 4400/0 is created for full bodied white wines with moderate acidity. The glass directs wine to the centre of the toungue, to bring all the flavours into perfect harmony.

On top of that, RIEDEL's Performance wine glass series is the first ever to feature bowls with a light optic impact: a unique optical effect, which not only adds a pleasing visual aspect to the bowl of the glass, but also increases the inner surface area. That added surface area allows the wine to open up and fully show all the aromas, nuances and flavours that it holds and has a positive impact on the drinker's perception of the bouquet and flavour of the wine.

For a wine drinker, there's no better gift than tools to help get the most out of wine, and RIEDEL is certainly that. With all the cellaring, chilling, decanting and thought we put into tasting wine, choosing the right glass is the easiest part. 

For more insights into wine and how to drink it, follow RIEDEL's Instagram or Facebook. 

@mark.baulderstone

RIEDEL
riedel.com