Initially, wine glasses all looked the same. For centuries, they were made of a relatively thick glass and designed in the traditional tulip shape. It wasn’t until the late 1950’s, when Claus Riedel took over the family business of designing stemware (a legacy which dates back to 1756), that wine glasses were given a different approach.
Riedel felt that by simply changing the rim, diameter and depth of a glass, he should be able to direct a wine to particular areas of the palate. Riedel also believed that wineglasses should be made with a thinner glass or crystal. This is a general rule of thumb that still remains today believing that the less that comes between the wine and the palate the better. Cheaper glasses tend to have thick or rolled rims, and so they don’t manage to focus the delivery of the wine properly.
The fact of the matter is the quality and style of your glassware is every bit as important as the quality of your wine. The right glass can enhance a wine’s bouquet, bringing out its complexities and even its textures. The wrong glass, however, can destroy the taste of a wine. After having worked hard and patiently on your own batch of Artful Winemaker wine, it would be remiss to serve it in a glass that throws off the balance and masks the taste.
If you have crafted your own signature Chardonnay, for example, the goal is to come out with a properly chilled glass of wine that is full and lightly toasted. If you serve Chardonnay in a large red wine glass, it becomes sharp. The delicate bouquet is completely lost in this type of glass, as the wine is not meant to handle such a large bowl. It is better to serve it in a proper Chardonnay glass The wine will even taste more chilled, as the alcohol and wood attributes are tempered by the glass designed to serve it in.
Now, if you take that same glass and use it with Pinot Noir, the wine tastes tart and thin. Pour Pinot Noir into a larger glass-like a Burgundy glass-it becomes fruit-driven, smooth and silky.
That Burgundy glass is not meant for Cabernet, however. If you pour Cabernet into a Burgundy glass, the result will be very dry and almost gritty. Pour that batch of Artful Winemaker Cabernet into a taller Bordeaux glass, however, and it is positively liquid velvet because Bordeaux glasses guide wines to the front of the palate.
The Personal Winemaking System is available now from Artful Winemaker, www.artfulwinemaker.com.
For more information on how to discover the winemaker in you, please contact:
Artful Winemaker
www.artfulwinemaker.com
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