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Finer Things
Reidel Wine Tasting at Morton's Restaurant
By Bruce Wildstein
Wine drinkers fall into a number of categories, ranging from from light, social drinkers to serious buyers of high quality labels. But there is one question all of them should ask themselves at some point: Just how important is the wine glass you drink from? At a recent tasting event 's Steakhouse in Burbank, that question was asked a number of times and guests found out for themselves how your wine glass can dramatically affect how you perceive the tastes of any wine.
Rather than pour different varietals in the customary "walk around" type of wine tasting, this event had guests seated with six different wine glasses on a special paper place setting. And in addition to the wine that was being supplied by Wash-ington state's Chateau Ste. Michelle winery, the glasses were supplied from Austria's renowned Riedel wine glass manufacturer. Considered by wine enthusists to be the best glasses in the world, they are still hand blown after over 100 years of production. Dozens of models are available, all tailored to the type of wine to be consumed. We've all seen these fancy glasses, some of which are fatter on the bottom then taper to a more narrow diameter opening. Some have long stems, some shorter stems. And what about the opening? Some are flat cut, and some rounded. So what's up with all this? We were about to find out.
Our hosts, from both Reidel (rhymes with needle) and Chateau Ste. Michelle, first talked about leaded versus non-leaded glassware. It turns out, that leaded glasses allow wine to be more aromatic, and since smell greatly affects anything we eat or drink, this makes the wine taste even better. The group of glasses were from Reidel's "Flow" series, and Pinot Noir and Reisling were the wines in two of our glasses. Our glasses were filled with a just a few ounces of wine, maybe one-fifth full. This is important, since it exposes more surface area to the air and allows more flavors to escape when swirled, an important part of wine tasting. We first picked up the glass with Reisling, and held it for balance. The stem, it turns out, is very important for balance. It must compliment the bowl, and the glass should not feel top heavy when holding it. Reidel's glasses are made with a stem in the correct proportion to the bowl, as we could tell. We then sipped our Reisling for taste. It was beautifully fruity, with notes of apricot and citrus. Our glass looked like a typical wine glass, but had a cut rim, not a rounded rim found on many cheaper glasses. This is important, as it affects how the wine flows over your tongue. Different parts of the tongue taste different things, some for sweetness, some bitterness, etc. The flat cut rim allows the wine to flow over the center of the tongue greatly enhancing its taste. We were instructed to pour the wine into a cheaper glass, not from reidell, with a rounded rim. Now the wine lost some of its smell and taste, as it rolled over our entire toungue. Next we pou-red the Reisling into a typical plastic party cup. We smelled and tasted, and most of the beautiful aroma and taste of the wine were covered up-it tasted completely different! Much of the citrus taste was gone, and the wine tasted more bitter.
We moved on to Chateau Ste. Michelle's Erath Pinot Noir, a beautiful light red made in Oregon. We used a wider bowl glass with a slight taper at the top, and enjoyed fabulous light fruity tastes and smells. We poured the wine into a different Reidel glass without the tapered rim, and some of the fruitiness was lost. It turns out that the tapered rim holds in the smells better and thus enhances the tasting expereince. This second glass, however, works well with a Chardonnay.
Finally, we sampled the Cold Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine aged 21 months in oak barrels. This was the darkest of the wines, with deep raspberry and chocolate notes and a dry finish. We poured it out of its "correct" glass into a cheaper, non reidel glass, and experienced the wine becoming more bitter and losing its wonderful oak barrel qualities.
Chateau Ste. Michelle accounts for 90% of Washington state's vineyards. www.ste-michelle-wine-estates.com.