Most wine aficionados have a favorite wine for almost every occasion. From a deep red to a light chardonnay, great wine should be enjoyed as an experience. Wine experts, or oenophiles, encourage all wine lovers to understand the importance of choosing the correct glass for their chosen wine.
Many of us have long thought that choosing a great wine glass meant making sure the glass matched our perfect table settings. However, choosing the correct wine glass for your specific wine allows all of the hidden notes and tones of each to be uncovered and enjoyed. The science of the wine glass is an art that is worthy of study.
First, it is important to understand the parts of a wine glass. The foot of the glass is obviously the base that allows your glass to stand upright. The stem allows you to hold your glass without the warmth of your hands heating your wine. The stem also allows you to enjoy the wine visually without creating smudges on the bowl.
The bowl is where most wine glasses vary. All wine glass bowls taper upward with a slightly narrower opening at the top than at the bottom. This shape is designed to capture and distribute the wine’s aroma toward your mouth and nose. The bowl is also designed to allow a specific amount of surface area for each specific wine.
The rim is imperative to achieving the full experience from your chosen wine. The thinner the rim, the less distraction you get as you sip. A great wine glass will have a smooth cut that does not inhibit the wine as it flows out of the glass. Cheaper wine glasses that have rolls or bumps along the rim distract from the flow.
Even the color of the glass is important. While colors are very attractive, when drinking wine in an attempt to better understand the full experience, the best glasses are crystal clear to allow the subtleties and the colors to better shine through. Crystal is better than common glass as it is softer and allows light to better diffract through, allowing for a better display.
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Choosing a style of glass is as important as the wine itself. Glass shape matters for each and every style of wine. The wine glass controls the tasting experience and ultimately makes your chosen wine taste better. The correct glass will highlight your favorite wine and allow for the display to be part of the entire experience.
There is a beautiful science that supports the importance of choosing the right glass shape for each and every wine. Each glass is designed differently to allow the wine vapors that carry aromatic compounds to your nose, producing the vast majority of flavors in wine.
There are many types of wine glasses. The shapes are referred to as standard, flute, tulip, coupe, hock, and tumbler. Many of us are mostly familiar with the standard glass for wine. Even the standard wine glass has many different shapes to allow the wine enthusiast to thoroughly enjoy the experience.
White wines are made with red or green grapes that have been fermented without the skins and are often combined with citrus and spicy flavors. White wine glasses typically have a smaller bowl that is designed to preserve floral aromas, maintain a cooler temperature, and allows for the wine to deliver more aromas due to the proximity to the nose.
Full-bodied white wines like an oak-aged Chardonnay, Viognier, White Rioja, and orange wines are better enjoyed with a more U-shaped bowl. The larger bowl better emphasizes the creamier texture because of the wider mouth. Younger white wines should be enjoyed from a glass with a slightly larger opening to allow the wine to pour directly onto the tip and sides of the tongue to enhance the sweetness. More mature white wines should be enjoyed in a straighter and taller glass, allowing the wine to dispense to the back and sides of the tongue so the bold flavors can be experienced.
Red wine glasses should be carefully considered because the flavor of the wine is drastically affected by the shape of the bowl. Red wines are made from the red-colored grapes that have been fermented with the skin included, giving the wine its deep red color. Red wines tend to taste smoother from a glass with a wide opening because the distance to the wine affects the vapors. This helps to mitigate the bitterness of tannin, delivering a smoother tasting wine.
Merlot, Cabernet, Sauvignon, and Bordeaux blends are full-bodied red wines with high tannin and should be enjoyed in a deeper bowl with a wide mouth, or the Bordeaux glass. They are designed to deliver more aroma compounds, burning more ethanol because of the distance from the nose.
Medium to full-bodied reds like Sangiovese, Syrah, Malbec, and Garnacha are better enjoyed in a standard red wine glass. The medium bowl with a narrower body and mouth allows for the spice to soften as the flavors hit your tongue progressively. Red wines with floral aromas like Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Nebbiolo are best enjoyed in an aroma collector Bourgogne glass. These lighter red wines have subtle aromas that collect in a deep bowl with a wide body and a wide mouth.
Champagne glasses are tall and narrow, in the shape of a flute, ideal for sparkling wines. The tall shape preserves the bubbles and pushes them up the glass, creating a stunning display. Asti, Cava, and Prosecco are also great sparkling wines to enjoy in a fluted glass.
Rose wines are pink or blush from the included grape skins that are allowed to remain for the first few hours of fermentation. These medium-sweet wines are commonly served in either a short bowl glass with a slight taper or a short-bowled glass with a slightly flared tip. The flared tip allows for the crisp, sweet wine to contact the tip of the tongue first, where the sweetness of the wine is most enjoyed.
Dessert wines are sweet and generally served with dessert. The glass is smaller and is designed to direct the wine to the back of the mouth so the sweetness does not overwhelm. The high alcohol content makes small glasses much more appropriate for ice wine, Riesling, Sherry, Vermouth, Raisin wine, and more.
And, not to be last and least, there is the casual wine tumbler glass. This glass style is designed for those who are less focused on the entire experience of the wine but more the moment happening around the glass of wine. While it is fun to experience each wine in its full flavor, don’t forget to enjoy the experiences happening around you. A great glass of wine is always better enjoyed with amazing company, even if in an imperfect glass.