by Michael Venezia
Cobb Life, April 2, 2010
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Michael Venezia
photo courtesy of Erin Gray |
Wine is food.
This simple sentence reflects a belief that wine is liquid food served in a glass, just as solid food is served on a plate. The pleasure of food is enhanced when it is beautifully presented on Limoges or Villeroy & Boch china. It is therefore very clear to me, along with most wine professionals and consumers alike, that the aesthetics in fine stemware raises the simple task of drinking wine to a much greater sensory level.
How important is using a proper glass when enjoying wine? Many professional tasters and drinkers will agree that size matters. To receive the "message in the bottle," it's critical that wine is served in a glass with a deep wide bowl, supported by a thin stem. This permits the wine to be swirled, so the heady aromas impact your acute sense of smell.
First viewing the bright liquid in a clean glass or hand-blown crystal goblet is simply splendor in the glass. We all know that if it looks good and smells good, the wine will taste good. It stimulates us to raise the glass to our lips and gently tilt the sublime nectar onto the tongue and as the taste buds embrace the fermented grape juice it sings in harmony with our sense. The combination of the visual, the aromatic, the tactile and the absorption of the wine on the palate is a multifaceted sensual experience. It registers an impact on the brain and its imprint can last for many years.
See. Swirl. Sniff. Sip. Swallow. Spit. Savor.
These 7 S words should be your guiding exercises for professional wine tasting.
After more than 30 years of professional wine tasting experience, and even more than that as a wine consumer, I have enjoyed tens of thousands of ounces of wine. From tumblers of Chianti in the trattorias of Tuscany, to plastic cups of chardonnay at picnics, the delivery of wine onto your palate is critical to the ultimate reason to consume wine, which is pleasure. I must admit that I've even ingested wine directly from a bottle on a hike in the North Georgia Mountains, and from a sheep's skin wine botta in Greece, which only proves that you don't need a glass to drink wine. But what a difference a fine glass can make.
In reality, and we all know that perception is reality, a beautifully designed, well made wine glass enhances the visual anticipation, stimulates the aromatic complexities of the bouquet, heightens the subtle nuances of color, and encourages the intellectual evaluations that fine wines stimulate. Whether it is a pale green tinged riesling, a deeply colored 14K gold chardonnay or a dense ruby red cabernet sauvignon, it will reveal more intensely when enjoyed from a beautifully created wine glass.
No company has impacted the enjoyment of wine more than the famous Austrian glass making family Riedel (rhymes with needle). Founded more than 250 years ago, today the 11th generation is continuing to impact the wine world with its exquisitely designed glasses. Continuing in the tradition set by Claus Riedel, the glasses are uniquely created to enhance the flavors of wine.
To quote Robert Parker, one of the most important of the world's wine advocates, "the effect of these glasses on fine wine is profound. I cannot emphasize enough what a difference they make."
My first opportunity to taste wine in Riedel glasses was at The Dining Room of the Ritz Carlton Buckhead at a dinner hosted by George Riedel. Herr Riedel's invitation to dinner was the highlight of a tasting presentation that featured a selection of wines poured into his stemware and also into the outstanding quality Ritz Buckhead glasses. The results of that evening are still quite vivid in my memory. The wines presented were of impeccable origin. At the dinner celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Robert Mondavi Winery, the tables were set with Riedel glasses. Created and named for great wine growing regions such as Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne or grape varieties such as riesling, zinfandel or syrah, there is a glass specifically designed to enhance the unique characteristics of each varietal.
For a complete introduction and education to the world of Riedel glassware explore them on the web at www.riedel.com.
The glass is basically a delivery system that permits the consumer to see the wine clearly, so that the luminosity and reflective nature of the wine's color is not compromised. Never use colored glasses. Blue-tinted, red-stained or other shaded designer glasses will diminish the wine's natural beauty. The glass should have a flat base, giving stability when it is placed on the table, and should have a stem that, when held, permits you to gently perfect the technique of swirling the wine in the bowl so that air can enter our nose and excite the olfactory bulb triggering the pleasure excited by our sense of smell.
According to Dr. Charles Wysocki of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, the most powerful perception we possess is our ability to smell. So keep in mind that wine is tasted principally by smell!
After enjoying the wine's aroma, the glass is designed to deliver the liquid onto the tongue as our palate absorbs the nature of the wine. Our senses can only measure sweet, sour, bitter and salt and specific areas of our tongue, cheek and palate identify these multiple flavors.
The good wine glass delivers all of the sensory messages perfectly. The good wine glass is technically sound, aesthetically attractive in form and function, and is so much more civilized than bringing the wine to our lips directly from the bottle.
So whether you are enjoying a Souverain merlot, a Quinta do Portal ruby port, a Martini & Rossi Italian sparkler, or a De Martino chardonnay from Chile — keep in mind that the glass you select can elevate the experience and truly make you feel that drinking wine is liquid sunshine.
Michael Venezia teaches the School of Hospitality's beverage management class, which is one of the most popular among hospitality students.
