Wine & Dine

What’s in choosing a wine glass?
by Julianne & Scott Donnini
Auburn Road Vineyards

We bought some new wine glasses the other day. We drink a lot of wine (occupational hazard) and we have broken our share of glasses (purely coincidence). One day, while looking into our glass cabinet, we found that all of our glasses were etched give-aways from the many wineries and wine events we had been to over the years and that none were the same size. Because they break and are expensive, we generally stay away from high end crystal glasses - though Reidel glasses really do add a little something to the experience.

Anyhow, we happened to be in Ikea on New Year’s Day and stumbled upon some wine glasses. They were $2 a glass (great price!) so we decided to buy a bunch. But as we stood there, looking at them, we were in a quandary - what kind do we buy? 

We drink all different types of wine and conventional wine wisdom (which, if you have read this column at all, you know we put very little stock in) dictates certain types of glasses for certain types of wine. In fact, if you have been wine glass shopping, you have probably seen them: Bordeaux glasses with the big bowls, Pinot Noir glasses with narrow mouths, champagne flutes that are long and thin, etc.

So there we were looking at glasses and it got us thinking – conventional wine wisdom be damned (there we go again…) What do we like to drink out of and why? Well, as always, the answer is going to be very personal, that is to say, everyone likes to drink out of different things for different reasons. Maybe you like the color of the glass, or a cool design, or a funky shape, or whatever. 

We realized that there were several things we looked for in a red wine glass. First, it has to feel good in your hand – balanced – though it doesn’t need to be crystal. To us, though, it has to feel delicate enough, not too clunky. It is a very subjective thing and we know it when we feel it. Second, it should not be colored or tinged with color – we like to see the color of the wine we are drinking. Third, for reds – any kind of red – we like a fairly big bowl. The reason being we like to swirl the wine to get oxygen to it which helps to open up the flavors and aromas (see our previous article…) also because it is almost a nervous habit at this point – it give us something to do between sips. I love to watch the wine swirl in a glass. Fourth, we like a more narrow mouth for red wines. One reason is that it concentrates the aromas towards your nose rather than having the aromas come out of all sides of a wide mouth. The other is that the wine has less of a tendency to splash out when we are swirling. Ikea had these crazy looking glasses with a wide almost angular bowl which dramatically tapered up to a relatively narrow mouth. Once we had taken the inventory we listed above as to what we wanted from a glass, we just had to get them. I love them…! We also got some standard bigger round bowl glasses with a slightly smaller mouth that looked more conventional. 

For whites, we realized that we were OK with being a little more unconventional. The bowls are not so big because swirling is not as big an issue…a little color may be ok too. We generally prefer white glasses that are smaller and hold a little less with a little bowl tapering to a smaller mouth. The smaller amount means that it will be consumed before the temperature gets too warm and you need to fill it up more often for that reason.  
 
Anyhow, a little food for thought on a cold afternoon! Remember, drink what you like out of a glass you like to drink out of – that makes the experience feel what it is – special! By the way, some of my fondest memories of hanging out with my dad and old Italian guys in Italy involved drinking wine out of juice glasses at a card table. It tastes great that way too…!

If there are wine related topics or questions you would like for us to address in upcoming installments of this column, shoot us an email through our website. Thanks for reading and see you at The Enoteca!

About Julianne and Scott Donnini
Julianne and Scott are co-owners of Auburn Road Vineyards and Winery in Pilesgrove, NJ. Julianne is the winemaker at Auburn Road and is one of a very limited number of female winemakers in the United States. Visit Auburn Road’s website, powered by Websketching.com, at www.auburnroadvineyards.com.