Q. Can a wine glass really make a wine taste better?
A. Yes it can. It is partly down to aesthetics. If something looks good, it makes us think it will taste better. This is why restaurants go to great lengths to present their food in an attractive manner on very smart plates. In the same way, wine served in your finest large crystal glasses will look better than in one of those tiny Paris goblets.
There is more to it than that though. As wine comes into contact with air, it releases all of those lovely aromas that make it so delicious. A tulip-shape glass will direct the bouquet towards your nose and intensify the various smells.
Many of the more expensive wine glasses are very large and have been growing steadily larger for the past 20 years. Some are big enough to contain an entire bottle. However, we are not supposed to fill them to the brim. A glass filled to half or even a third full will allow the wine to breathe, and you to swirl it around, helping that process. This is why we sometimes pour wine into a decanter.
Austrian wine company Riedel has been hugely successful in convincing wine consumers that they need to buy specific glasses for every grape variety or wine region. Their glasses do look beautiful, but in reality, one large tulip-shaped glass works perfectly for every wine. Traditionally, white wine is served a smaller glass, but there is no good reason for this other than convention and possibly aesthetics.
In the past, sparkling wine was served in coupes, shallow stemmed glasses that seem designed to allow all of the fizz to escape, so today most Champagne drinkers use exactly the same glass for any other wine – a large tulip-shaped glass.
Some younger wine drinkers ignore all of the above and instead drink from beakers, coupes, mixed antique glasses or Mason jars. Feel free to do the same, but I do think you will lose some of those lovely flavours.
