Put to the test
The August issue of Gourmet magazine has a thought-provoking article about whether expensive wine glasses really do affect the taste of wines. Many oenophiles agree Austrian brand Riedel produces the Rolls-Royce of wine glasses. The beautiful, expensive glasses are designed for specific varietals: not just for red and white wine and champagne. The range is so extensive you can (if you can afford it and have the room to store them) buy chardonnay glasses that differ depending on whether the grape comes from Burgundy or the New World; there are glasses for vintage champagnes, non-vintage champagnes, moscatos and sparkling wines. The glasses are designed to deliver different wines to specific areas of the tongue. Ordinary glasses, the company says, might deposit the wine on the part of the tongue that tastes salt, thereby ruining the flavour. To spread the Gospel According to Riedel, the company conducts glass tastings that compare two wines (one red and one white) tasted
out of various Riedel glasses and one non-Riedel glass. Several years ago, I attended one of these tastings led by company president Georg Riedel. I went in a sceptic and came out a convert.
The problem is, the Gourmet article says, I was brainwashed. Through persuasive speaking and the power of suggestion, myself and the other participants were led to believe the wines tasted better in the specific glasses. The article says that in a study at the University of Dresden, 200 subjects compared wines tasted from a variety of Riedel glasses and from non-traditional square and tulip-shaped glasses. For sweet, salty and bitter flavours, they could find no discernable changes between the different glasses, although they did detect differences in the sourness. The scientist featured in the article says, 'I'm not convinced that very subtle differences between glasses would make a significant difference for untrained wine lovers like me.' The article concludes that 'Riedel and other high-end glasses can make wine taste better. Because they're pretty. Because they're delicate. Because they're expensive. Because you expect them to make the wine taste better. And that ... can make all the difference.'