Riedel philosophy: the right tool for the right job

Wine lovers often get painted automatically with the "snobby" brush if they show anything more than a superficial knowledge of the stuff; sometimes it's deserved (we've all met those people), but most times it's not. The enthusiasm that people have to learn everything about their passions - whether that be shipbuilding, football, or wine - often leads to deep, esoteric knowledge about the subject that can cause non-believers to feel inadequate.

One might hazard that Maximilian Riedel, 11th generation heir to the highly-regarded, world-renowned Austrian crystal dynasty, could certainly be expected to come across as one of these wine snobs when explaining the technicalities of his glassware.

Absolutely not so.



We were fortunate to attend a private seminar led by Mr. Riedel at Freemark Abbey Winery in St. Helena last week, showcasing their Vitis line of stemware with Freemark Abbey's wines. Although obviously dapper and a well-mannered global CEO with a mild European accent, Max Riedel's easy rapport slipped us straight into a comfortable discovery mode as he explained his family's philosphy and why this variety of stemware was laid out before us.



Probably the most important thing to understand about Riedel glasses is that they are engineered in these specific shapes & volumes to place the wine exactly where you want it on the tongue, to ensure that the characteristics of that particular wine come across best. We all learned about the different taste receptors on our tongues in elementary school (remember the chart, Q-tips and little vials of bitter, sweet, sour, etc.?), but probably don't think about these details much later in life. You will certainly think about them again after trying this type of wine tasting demonstration yourself!

Although we all know Riedel glasses are beautiful and that's half the joy of using them, Max says they are not a design house - they are making fine instruments, and basically it's important to use the right "messenger" to get the best out of your wines. He suggested that a good rule of thumb is to spend about as much on a glass as you would normally spend on a bottle of wine. To really see how a glass works and where the wine will flow into your mouth, you can tip the glass away from you until it is close to horizontal and the wine nearly spills out - "the angel's share" Max called it - to see the shape formed by the liquid. It's important not to overpour into the glass - the wine needs space to aerate so the flavors & aromas can develop properly - and you can swirl pretty aggressively without having a problem!

The first demo was with Freemark Abbey's 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, in its proper (Riesling) glass. The fresh pineapple/ citrusy tropical fruit aroma was clearly identifiable, and the first sip places the wine right at the tip of the tongue where sweetness is tasted so you get that lovely fruit flavor up front before the wine moves towards the center & edges of the tongue and develops into a nice minerality and a bare hint of oak. Then he asked us to pour the rest of the Sauvignon Blanc from that glass into the "joker" glass - a standard clear plastic party cup with a wide mouth. Swirl, stick your nose in - nothing. Shockingly, absolutely, nothing! The aromas of that exact same wine were completely gone, lost, "perdu" as the French say. The flavor was similarly altered - since the wide mouth introduces the liquid across your entire tongue at once, instead of getting those crisp sweet fruit flavors, it was flatter and with a touch of bitterness compared to what we'd tasted before.

We also tasted other varietals in the "wrong" Riedel glass as well as the right glass for comparison; the 2005 Pinot Noir in the Chardonnay glass places the wine just behind the tip of the tongue instead of on the tip where you want it - resulting in a drier, more bitter, more alcoholic flavor and a shorter aftertaste, whereas in the correct glass, it's "Fred Astaire in a wine glass" with lots of fresh red berry flavors and a hint of tannin (Max Riedel recalled the saying that "Pinot Noir is for lovers & artisans; Cabernet is for doctors & lawyers"). He suggested trying champagne, 75% of which is made from Pinot Noir, in a Pinot glass sometime, and that he's actually starting to move away from champagne flutes - all you get is the mousse - the bubbliness.

Similar exercises were performed with the 4 Riedel Vitis glasses (which conveniently come in together in their "tasting set" for the most popular varietals) and 4 Freemark Abbey wines including Napa Valley Cabernet & Chardonnay (in the appropriate glass, it's easy to see how it stood up so well at the legendary Judgement of Paris - we'd forgotten how classic & beautiful this wine is). Max also took the occasion to introduce his latest set of gorgeous, long-necked decanters including the coiled-serpent-shaped "Eve" - "no, they're not bongs" he joked, perhaps only because he was in maryjane-tolerant California. "Eve" requires a swirling, wrist-twirling motion to pour the wine, which creates a wonderful gurgling sound as a vaccuum is created and broken, double-aerating the wine before it hits your glass with tiny bubbles.



Bottom line is that the philosophy the Riedel family espouses is defiantly demonstrated in this seminar. Everyone understood this to be a veiled sales pitch, but we were most certainly sold as one could tell by the somewhat overwhelmed Freemark Abbey tasting room staff trying to ring up all the sales at the end of the afternoon. Especially for folks who spend more than $40 a bottle on average for their wines, it seems a real pity not to get everything you can out of them by using the correct instrument.

If you don't have the opportunity to attend a Riedel or similar seminar like this, I'd suggest trying a simplified version of this exercise using different shaped glasses you have at home to get a sense of what we experienced. I guarantee you'll realize investment in good glassware is not snobbery, but common sense!