08/26/08 Wine Glasses P2

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Yesterday I addressed somewhat, the age old question "Does the choice of wine glass really make a difference?" Today I want to explore this further. There is an important difference when I select a wine glass to suit the wine I am serving. But recently I held a large dinner party and didn't have quite enough of the same glasses to go around. So instead of mismatching glasses, I made certain that each guest had a set of two or three glasses that were identical, whenever they might be comparing wines. The reason for this effort is not to give any wine an unfair advantage or disadvantage. In the case of two white wines I poured the same producer from differing vintages. If the wines were in mismatched glasses they could not be fairly compared to one another, as one glass may have had a larger bowl than the other which exposes the wine to more oxygen more quickly and altered the smells and flavors more quickly than the wine in a smaller glass. So when comparing wine it is essential the glasses match. Now when you are simply focused upon one wine at a time I tend to be traditional and look at the color - White wine in a glass with a smaller bowl with a narrow opening and red wine in a larger bowl and a larger opening. I believe the case has been made quite well by companies such as Riedel that the glass you select does make a difference. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.