The Great Glassware Debate

RUMASINGH raises a glass to the joys of drinking wine, no matter which side of the debate you're on

- RUMASINGH

I love beautiful glasses from which to drink wine and, like many others, have collected a few. But a recent brouhaha on social media questioning the need for quality wine glasses led me to examine my own collection. Did I really need multiple glasses of different shapes and sizes to drink wine?

I recalled my travels to France and visits to its terrasse cafés and brasseries — none of which have fancy glasses, just simple, delicious food. Your oysters on the half-shell might come with a glass of Premier Cru Chablis, should you want it, most often served in an unpretentious, stumpy glass with a shortish stem. Take it or leave it would be the accompanying attitude. I’d take it, and a delicious wine-paired meal would be had.

So then, is it much ado about glasses? To give perspective to the debate, it is necessary to backtrack a bit. A glassware revolution took place in 1976 when Claus Riedel of Austria’s Riedel glassware company created the handmade Sommelier series of wine glasses and revolutionized the concept of tasting wine. The shape of each glass, he claimed, is to optimize appreciation of wine’s flavours. For instance, the deep curved balloon shape for Bordeaux red wines would give the wine’s powerful aromas and tannins space to unfurl before reaching the nose and palate, while the wide-bowled Burgundy glass would enhance the delicately-nuanced notes of Pinot Noir. On the other hand, the narrow-lipped white wine glasses made for low alcohol, aromatic wines like Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, send their flavours directly to the nose; while the wide-brimmed Chardonnay glass allows its richer aromas greater space.