LITTLE ROCK — For years I’ve prided myself on my sense of smell, and thus my ability to identify flavors.
Except when it comes to wine.
I acknowledge that despite my ability to recognize coriander and cardamomin cookies, my supersniffer may not be advanced enough for the finer nuances of oenophilia.
On the other hand, I’ve always secretly suspected that those florid descriptions -aromas of peach and grass and some other random and inedible item in nature - are a bit of nonsense. It’s wine. It doesn’t taste like peaches sprinkled with grass and stones roasted on a fire.
It tastes like wine.
But recently something magical happened.
I attended a class led by Georg Riedel of Riedel Crystal at the Capital Hotel.
The class focused on varietal specific wine glasses.
A look at Riedel’s wine and glass guide at wine glassguide.com shows just how serious the company is about glasses. The site contains glass recommendations for wine, spirits and even water.
I’m pleased to say I do own a set of Riedels.
The glasses, designed for pinot noir, are among my favorite wedding gifts.
Joe and I selected the glasses for our registry in part because we drink pinotnoir, but mostly because I loved how the curvaceous glasses looked. Turns out this is an insult. During his presentation, Riedel made the comment that while well-meaning, it is insulting when people tell him he makes beautiful glasses.
The glasses are tools.
“Tools should lift our enjoyment,” Riedel emphasized. “I am the toolmaker.”
The shape and appearance, however beautiful, is purely functional, he said.
The lesson consisted of an intricate game of musical wine glasses.
Each place setting included four wine glasses and two plastic cups arranged in a semicircular fashion starting on the left: 1 (plastic cup), 2 (chardonnay), 3 (Riesling), 4 (pinot noir), 5 (cabernet sauvignon). The remaining plastic cup was for discarding wine.
We began with Montinore Estate Riesling. Riedel had us pour the wine into the plastic cup, then smell the empty Riesling glass, noting the aromas. We then smelled the wine in the plastic cup. In the plastic cup, the once fruity, full and slightly yeasty wine smelledbland and only of alcohol.
When we tasted the Riesling in the plastic cup, the flavor was sweet, acidic and bitter.
We then poured the wine back into its glass, smelled and tasted.
That’s when the magic happened. I could smell and taste the flavor of stone fruit (specifically white peaches and apricot, according to Riedel). Though fruity, the wine was not particularly sweet, nor was it bitter.
CONVEYING COMPLEXITY
Riedel explained that the size of the glass should convey the complexity of flavors. Riesling, for example, has two components: fermented juice and yeast. It is best served in a small glass with a tapered rim, which will concentrate the aromas. The wide-mouth plastic cup diluted the aromas. He explained that a flared or straight-rimmed glass would have the same effect.
Oaked chardonnay has three components: fermented juice, yeast and oak; thus it needs a slightly larger glass.
Red wine gets even more complex with the addition of fermented grape skin.
Our second wine was Landmark Overlook Chardonnay. Here the magic continued. In the proper glass, I could smell for the first time the heady aroma of wood and fruit. The chardonnay glass looked very much like what I would call a generic red wine glass, with a round bulbous bowl with tapered sides but a wide opening.
Riedel explained that the round, wide bowl is necessary to expose the wine and balance the flavor, helping to create a creamy texture.
The rim, particularly the width of the rim, influences the flavor of wine by changing where the wine hits the palate upon taking a sip, he said. The wider the rim, the more open the mouth is, and the less the head leans back.
We then poured the chardonnay into the Riesling glass. The difference was immediately apparent. One sniff and the rich woody aroma was gone. Upon tasting, the wine had a bitter flavor.
We then poured the Riesling into the chardonnay glass. The Riesling was yeasty, acidic and puckery tart - completely different than it was in the plastic cup or the Riesling glass.
Our game of musical wine glasses continued until we had poured all four of the wines into a less-than-ideal glass, smelled, tasted, returned the wine to the original glass, smelled and tasted again.
It was astounding the differences the glasses made.
The same wine, so many different flavors, all because of the glass.
Landmark Grand Detour Pinot Noir in the specially designed pinot noir glass was fruity, smoky and smooth, almost silky. The pinot noir glass was similar in bowl shape to the chardonnay glass, but instead of a wide rim, the glass sported a lip that straightened, then flared slightly from the bowl. The lip affects where the wine hits the palate when it enters the mouth, Riedel said.
In the chardonnay glass, the pinot noir was acidic and bitter with no notes of smoke. The pinot noir in the Riesling glass was also bitter with a weird aftertaste. When I swallowed, it felt as if all of the moisture had been sucked out of my mouth.
A FINAL PLEASURE
Our final wine was Robert Keenan Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon (the most expensive wine I think I’ve ever had the joy of drinking). In the cabernet glass, similar in shape to the Riesling glass but very large and slightly straighter at the rim, the wine was smoky, velvety and lush. When we tasted the cabernet from the pinot noir glass, the wine lost its velvety texture.
The fruity pinot noir in the cabernet glass wasn’t fruity at all.
And that was when I realized there’s nothing wrong with my nose and wine writers are not spouting nonsense. I’ve simply been using the wrong glasses.
Riedel left us with his four rules for wine enjoyment (in order of importance):
Select the company you drink wine with. “The saddest moment is to sit and drink a great wine by yourself,” he said. “[It is] torture.”
Serve wine at the proper temperature: white not too cold, red slightly cool (65 degrees or so).
Almost always decant wine to enjoy its best flavor. Decanting expands the wine, exposing it to air, creating a softer wine with less tannin and more fruit.
Pick varietal specific glasses.
While Riedel Crystal literally has a glass for every varietal, Riedel said you really only need five types of glasses - syrah, Montrachet (chardonnay), Riesling, pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon. But even if you own only one type of wine glass, he said, as long as you are drinking wine with people whose company you enjoy, you can’t go wrong.
Food, Pages 32 on 06/23/2010