Riedel, one of the leading glassmakers in the world, seems to understand the ongoing battle and straddle the marketplace, writing:
RIEDEL offers both "varietal specific" glasses for wine enthusiasts and "wine friendly" glasses for more casual wine drinkers.
Plan to invest ($) in ONE glass as much as you spend on average on a bottle of wine.
A grape varietal specific RIEDEL glass is a wine tool "the key to wine" and is designed to unlock the most elusive characteristics of a wine.They have, of course, segmented the marketplace, and recognized that 'enthuasists' can be convinced to buy more expensive and more varied types of glasses, while happily selling more standardized glasses to other drinkers; it isn't either-or for them.
Does a special glass change the experience? If a glass can be custom-tailored for many wines (through thoughtful design), why is it far-fetched to believe that a glass may be better for specific varietals? The issue at hand isn't, however, whether varietal specific glassware might (sometimes) be better. It's whether someone facing conventional space and monetary constraints should order 200 different wineglasses, per dinner guest, to cover all possible configurations.
I personally bought a set of one-size-fits-all wine glasses (RIEDEL, sorry Gabriel!) and find myself well-served by them, but were I in a position to invest heavily in wine-drinking, would I not consider it worth the marginal dollars if they might improve my overall wine experience? If you're buying a $100 or $200 bottle, does an additional $30 or $50 investment in glassware pay off over time? It's a difficult question to answer and one which speaks as much to the psychology of wine as it does its innate physical characteristics.
I have had fine dining experiences in which I have been overwhelmed by an ocean of glasses presented to me for a lengthy wine and food pairing, finding myself unable to keep up with the alcohol and ending up with 5 or 6 glasses on a table, confused about which one was which and feeling deeply sorry for whoever had to wash the delicate crystal in the back of the kitchen. On the other hand, I've seen first hand how decanting wine can make it taste different: clear evidence that life outside the bottle can affect the flavor.
Unfortunately, everyone selling wine glasses, wine, or advice about either, has a financial stake in the matter -- it's hard to get a straight answer. Worse, it's challenging to do a blind tasting: it would be quite an ordeal to sample 10 different wine glasses, across a variety of wines, without prejudice to the type of wine glass! It may be that this technology, present for thousands of years, has run its course -- there may be other ways to drink wine we should consider instead. Wine as gel, mist, foam; perhaps an aerosol that we smell combined with a freeze-dried version that we ingest; there are a lot of ideas out there. Some have been explored by molecular gastronomists, but those same chefs have been too busy making margin on bottles to fully push the envelope!
As with many things, there is still room yet for revolution.
- Sam Jackson
I'm also torn on the glassware topic as I wrote about elsewhere in the blog. Two additional points that I would add here:
ReplyDelete1) Is there an element to "eating first with your eyes" that increases pleasure of drinking with a specialized glass intangibly? i.e. regardless of whether or not it actually enhances taste does the distinctive glassware add to the overall experience just as a style/presentation of a dish does at a fancy restaurant? I would argue that education might not be enough to turn the consumer to universal glassware and remove any "placebo" effects, unless it can be associated with something even more premium. Additionally, I wonder if - even though perhaps not "useful" - universal glasses will need to make themselves more distinctive visually from all other glasses to differentiate (e.g. stemless glassware caught on partially because it was distinctive and became emblematic of a certain lifestyle).
2) If anyone were to make these universal glasses premium, I would argue that it would likely be restaurants. Restaurants have huge incentives to switch to a universal glass - given the cost/square foot in most of today's foodie towns. Fine restaurants are also stewards of cuisine and arguably set the standard for what is the highest level of hospitality. If the restaurants can be convinced to make these glasses premium, there may be a trickle down effect.