The taste of wine lies in the glass

The Framingham Classic Riesling 2013 (Rs 3,109 in Bengaluru) is a classic New Zealand off-dry style wine, with rich fruit and aromas of lemons and mandarin and stone fruit with a long mineral finish

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Did you know that wines can taste completely different depending on the glass you use to taste or drink?

The Bangalore Wine Club recently organised a 'Glass Tasting' with Riedel, one of the foremost producers of wine glasses in the world, and the results were fascinating.

We tasted water (no, it tastes the same, regardless of the glass used), two whites, and two reds from five different wine glasses: a 'joker' (all-purpose wine glass), a white-wine wine glass, a Chardonnay wine glass, a Burgundy wine glass, and a Bordeaux wine glass. In each instance wines sampled from the 'joker' had no aroma and little taste, while these features were accentuated when the correct wine glass was used.

There's good science and hundreds of years of emperical evidence behind this phenomenon, based on two simple facts: one, that an inward-curving wine glass concentrates aromas in different ways depending on the size and shape of the bowl; and two, that the human tongue can taste only five tastes: sweet, sour, salt, bitter, and umami (savoury or spicy) - but at different locations on the tongue.

Try this experiment: take a half-way decent red wine (one that actually has both aroma and taste) and set up a tasting using three different glasses (1) an 'all-purpose wine glass (2) a white-wine wine glass (3) a big-bowled red wine wine glass. Pour a little wine in each and go through the swirl-sniff-sip routine used for wine tasting, starting with the wine in the red wine glass. Judge for yourself how the same wine smells and tastes completely different in each receptacle.

Riedel is a 260-year-old German company that pioneered in 1961 the use of unadorned blown stemware (as long-stemmed wine glasses are known), with shapes differing to wine varieties, culminating in their 'Sommelier' range (1973). The range has since expanded enormously and today includes stemless wine glasses and decanters, which are not inexpensive - prices start from about Rs 2,000 (per wine glass) and go rapidly skywards; the top-end decanter (the Horn) can set one back by over Rs 1 lakh.

Of course, the quality, size and cost of wine glasses commonly available varies enormously: from about Rs 200 per wine glass for a basic Ocean brand (which is almost a 'Joker') to wine glasses from producers like Famac, Bormioli and Spiegelau costing between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500 each, to the Riedel ranges and even higher. Some of the best wine glasses in use are at the top star hotels - apart from Riedel (a perrineal favourite), there are brands like Schott Zwiesel (also German), Peugeot (yes, the car-producer), Libby, and Eisch.

So the next time you want to really appreciate your wines, do remember to use good wine glasses - and invest in a nice decanter for the reds; it always improves the wine.

Wines I've been drinking: Of the wines tasted at the Riedel Glass Tasting above I was most impressed by the Framingham Classic Riesling 2013 (12 per cent v/v, Rs 3,109 in Bengaluru) - a classic New Zealand off-dry style, with rich fruit and juicy acidity and aromas of lemons and mandarin and stone fruit with a long, mineral finish. And YES, it was best in the white-wine wine glass.

Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant