Wine Tutorial and Q & A

Glassware affects winetasting? Nope, this is too good to miss. Elucidate my learned friend. I'm all ears, not just mouth.

Well, the main concept behind the Riedel glassware designs is that they focus the flavour profile of particular grape varietals to the proper areas of our tongue, so we taste the wines better, or more precisely, what the grape has to offer, and how the producer has treated it. Check out www.riedelcrystal.com. The coolest thing on the site is the "choose your glass" option. Just choose a beverage, and it will suggest an ideal glass in all their stemware series. I have to say, the theory behind the glassware is true. If we are just drinking, any glass will do, but when we taste for real at home, or do a tutored tasting for a client, we use the proper Riedel glasses.

Read the artice on glassware. I am aghast. Boy do I feel ignorant. I couldn't have imagined the complexity. And they've been around a long time. Bohemia no less. I bow to your wisdom, Obi Wan.

That is why I am here grasshopper....actually we met Georg Riedel at a trade show...nice guy, and way passionate about his glassware.

When I grab the stone from your hand is it time to leave?

I'll leave that question for Pat Morito to answer...

cav, What are good, economical, Canadian wines costing less than US$10? c.i.

Hmmm, Inniskillin, Hillebrand, Magnotta, Penninsula Ridge....most of the regular list Canadian wines are around $11-15 CDN (some cheaper), so that would translate to a bargain for US $$$. I can suggest a few of our favorites a bit later. Off to the vet with the dog for a quick check-up. Cheers!

I wasn't really joking about the two buck Chuck, though it does sound funny. I'm familiar with the Riedel glassware and the theory behind it. I wonder why most wineries just use those cheap apperitif glasses (maybe they are trying to sell them too)? Some people go so far as to bring their own stemware when they go tasting.

I recently had a wonderful Pinot Noir from Foris, in Oregon. I wished I had the Riedel glass just for it.

The standard tasting glass used at wineries and trade shows is an "all-purpose" tasting glass called ISO. Here is Riedel's opinion:

http://www.harpers-wine.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=422

Hi cjhsa. I have ammended my thinking after reading info on product. I am contrite.

Ok Cav, what's your take on screwtops? Me, I'm sick of buying tainted wine, and am all for them. Randall Graham is my hero.

Personally, they are the best tool for keeping wine from going off. However, the cork maintains a romance with the wine-drinking public, and probably always will. Plastic and composite corks are also being used, and are also a step up from the regular cork, in terms of wine preservation. They are used mostly on low to mid-priced new world wines. The true cork will probably have to be retired one day, as there will soon be nobody left to carry on the tradition of tending the cork trees, generally a family based trade. Kids just wanna have fun, get real jobs, get on the internet....much more attractive than growing and making corks.

I read recently where a winemaker here in California had to throw out an entire vintage because of tainted synthetic corks.

Interesting, cjhsa, if it is online, I would love to get the link.

Yes, me too!

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Archives/Show_Article/0,1275,3418,00.html

Okay, that's what I meant by composite cork. Looks like cork, but taint I believe the plastic corks are pretty reliable, but some folks don't like the look and feel of them.

I don't care if they slap a condom on my bottle of Pinot, just as long as it doesn't TCA my vino.

I thought this was good info as well, for those unfamiliar with 'corked' wine and TCA:

http://www.observer.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,9950,662902,00.html