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By Alice Broster/Sept. 2, 2021 11:01 am EDT
You might be a Malbec drinker, or Pinot Noir might be more your jam. Finding the right red wine for you can feel grown up and luxurious. However, if some experts are to be believed, the wine glass you drink out of could be as important as the wine itself. So, does it matter what kind of glass you drink red wine out of? You might be able to take your cheese and wine night to the next level.
You might consider yourself to be a little bit of a wine connoisseur. However, Wineware outlined that any wine lover needs to know how to talk about their wine and wine glasses. The publication noted that there are two different types of wine glasses — you can either buy wine with or without stems. The stem is the thin part of the glass that you hold. Stemmed wine glasses are made up of a stem, base at the bottom, and bowl where your wine goes in. The bowl can come in all shapes and sizes.
While you may have bought your wine glasses based on aesthetics, different wine glasses serve different functions. “There is so much more to wine than a price and a good-looking bottle; you need to have the right tools as well,” said Maximilian Riedel, the 11th generation CEO and president of glassware maker Riedel Crystal (via Spear’s).
Wine glass shapes can impact the taste of your beverage
You only need to walk through any homeware section to recognize that there are innumerable wine glass shapes, and it can be really difficult to know if the shape of your glass actually makes a difference.
Vine Pair outlined that while stemless wine glasses may look nice in your cupboards, stemmed wine glasses are much more desirable for red wines. This is because you don’t have to touch the bowl while you’re drinking, meaning you won’t impact the temperature of the wine. Similarly, you’ll be able to swirl the wine in your glass to ensure that you get the full aroma and taste.
Studies have also suggested that the shape of the glass can leave a different lasting taste in the mouth. For this reason, Usual Wines noted that if you’re serving up red wine, you need to think about oxygen and letting the wine breathe.
You may notice that, as a general rule, red wines have a higher alcohol content. The Drinks Business noted that by putting red wine in a wider glass, it allows more of these volatile compounds to evaporate and the subtleties of the wine’s flavor and smell to come through. Similarly, a wider glass allows the wine to oxidize, opening up the smell and full taste of the wine. You’ll notice that the longer you let a red wine breathe, it’ll deepen in flavor.
Rule of thumb, then, should be that the fuller-bodied your wine is, the wider the glass.
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