How To Choose The Best Wine Glasses For You (2)
White Wine Glasses
White wines are typically served in smaller bowled glasses. Smaller glasses:
Preserve floral aromas
Maintain cooler temperature
Express more acidity in wine
Delivers more aromas (even at cooler temperatures) due to proximity to nose
You’ll notice that full-bodied white wines like oak-aged Chardonnay, Viognier, White Rioja, and orange wines are better with a larger bowl.
The larger bowl, originally introduced by Riedel as a “Montrachet” glass , better emphasizes a creamy texture because of the wider mouth.
Red Wine Glasses
The choice of a red wine glass has a lot to do with mitigating the bitterness of tannin or spicy flavors to deliver a smoother tasting wine.
After a few years of tasting wines from different glasses, we’ve noticed that red wines tend to taste smoother from a glass with a wide opening. Of course, the distance to the actual fluid affects what you smell.
Large “Bordeaux” Glass
This glass shape is best with bolder red wines, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Alicante Bouschet or Bordeaux Blends.
Delivers more aroma compounds vs. the burn of ethanol from being farther from nose
Larger surface area to let ethanol evaporate
Wider opening makes wines taste smoother
“Standard” Red Wine Glass
A great glass for medium- to full-bodied red wines with spicy notes and/or high alcohol.
Spice is softened because flavors hit your tongue more progressively from the smaller opening. Try wines like Zinfandel, Malbec, Syrah (Shiraz), and Petite Sirah with this glass.
Aroma Collector “Bourgogne” Glass
A great choice for lighter more delicate red wines with subtle aromas. The large round bowl helps collect all the aromas. Try this glass shape with Pinot Noir, Gamay, Zweigelt, St. Laurent, Schiava, Freisa, Valpolicella blends, and even Nebbiolo!
Specialty Wine Glasses
You may find a reason to pick up a few specialty wine glasses depending on what you tend to drink the most.
For example, we cannot live without our official Port glass (shown above on the right). It’s small size and narrow mouth reduces evaporation (it’s a high alcohol wine).
That said, I’ve broken almost every Champagne flute I’ve purchased. (flailing arm syndrome)
What About “Universal” Glasses?
A few glass manufacturers including Zalto and Gabriel-Glas offer a “universal glass.”
This is a great idea for the space-saving, pragmatic enthusiast who doesn’t want to bother with all the different shapes. Both aforementioned glass brands are of exceptional quality (starting at $30 a stem!), so it’s hard to fuss over the subtle differences in taste delivery.
That said, if you’re someone who “only drinks bold reds” you might be better served with a biggy-sized Bordeaux glass (like the one displayed above).
