Slippery Slope

Wine glasses have been somewhat of an obsession of mine in recent months. The discovery that the glass you use can have such a huge difference to the whole tasting experience led to me now having an assorted collection of wine glass shapes that’s starting to get out of hand. I have separate glasses for fruity reds, medium-bodied reds, Chianti / Malbec, Pinot Noir, and Bordeaux / Cabernet Sauvignon, not to mention white and sparkling glasses. It could be worse though. Famous glass-makers like Riedel have a vast array available, covering every known style of wine…

One Glass To Rule Them All?

A number of glass companies now produce a universal glass, said to make the most of any wine you happen to pour in them, and a birthday gift of an Amazon voucher, had me doing a little research on them.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Wine Folly. The book and website are fantastic resources for anyone wanting to learn about wine. In a recent video the host, Madeline, tasted the same wine from five top universal glasses and concluded that the best overall was the One for All by Gabriel Glas, designed by René Gabriel of Switzerland and made in Austria. There is a mouth-blown Gold Edition for $62, but the machine-made $29 StandArt offered the best aroma and taste for the price. There is now a Wine Folly branded version of this glass, and that’s what I chose to spend my voucher on. 

$30 is still far more than I would normally spend on glassware, but since I’m now writing wine reviews and want to pick out as many nuances as possible, it seemed like a worthy investment. 

Is It Worth It?

Well, that’s what I’ve set out discover. Rather than just trying the glass in isolation, I wanted to see how it compared to my go-to tasting glass, a Bormioli Rocco Electra, plus another glass made specifically for the wine I was tasting. I did this on three occasions, with three different styles of wine.

Test 1: Chianti

Left – Bormioli Rocco Electra, Middle – Gabriel Glas, Right – Bormioli Rocco Riserva Chianti

The Wine

Coli – Villa Montignana Chianti Classico Riserva 2013. $20 for two bottles from Bevmo, February 2019.

Medium garnet red. Fairly youthful medium tannin, medium+ acid. Dry, with ripe red fruit on the finish.

The Glasses

Electra – Light to medium-intense nose. Ripe red fruit and woodsmoke, and a little smoked meat. Not very distinct. Hit the front of the palate first. Smooth mouthfeel with nice fruit.

Gabriel Glas – Medium to medium+ intense nose. Ripe red fruit, woodsmoke, a little meaty. Some dark fruit, too. Hit the palate a little further back than the Electra. Comes across as higher in acidity than the Electra.

Riserva Chianti – Medium-intense. Earthy and meaty, with red fruit and woody spice. Hits the palate between the other two and provided the most balanced mouthfeel for this wine.

Conclusions

Well, it’s not over yet, but with this wine at least, the varietal-specific glass won for me. Still, the Gabriel Glas displayed an impressive improvement in aroma intensity over my usual tasting glass.

A customer in work coined the phrase “Delivery System” when describing a glass, and it’s very fitting indeed. Small changes in design can change how your brain perceives aroma and flavour, and if you’re serious about getting the most out of any wine you’re drinking, then do take the time to try different glasses yourself.

As for whether I think you should be buying dozens of different types of wine glasses, that will have to wait until I’ve concluded my important research. This is hard work you know… Look for What’s in a Glass, Part 2 in the coming days. 

For more wine reviews, go to my blog home page.

For a huge selection of Italian wine, visit Wine.com

Darren.