Wine glass competition

----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Tommasi" Newsgroups: alt.food.wine Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2004 12:47 PM Subject: Wine glass competition

The rampant absence of IKEA Svalka (EU 4, pack of six) sears my eye balls ...

;)

Nils Gustaf

I must try this Nils.

Since you have booked your september visit to my local IKEA in Toulon, you can introduce me to this model then ! We'll pick up a six pack and compare them to my Spiegelaus over a Bandol or two...

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

100 per cent ACK!

M., just drinking Tatu 2001, Primitivo del Tarantino IGT, out of "SVALKA Red Wine" to be seen here:

or, shorter,

Here's the glassware in French:

or

M.

BTW, I was rummaging around a nice store in Catalunya last week, and picked up a very nice decanter from Schott Zwiesel or something like that, a perfect shape if you ask me, none of these silly flat carafes that are impossible to hold when pouring. Almost a chemistry lab shape, nice and round on the bottom, wide long neck, light weight. Cheap. Unbreakable crystal.

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Unbreakable crystal doesn't exist.

Anyhow, I recently gave up using decanters altogether, although I own more than half a dozen (including a 3000 ml chemistry flask I bought for decanting my first double magnum last summer).

What I do now is quite simple: I double decant (with a funnel), so that in the end the wine is back in its original (rinsed, of course, if there was deposit) bottle.

The reason is quite simple: With bottles I can use drop-stop foils which reduce the risk of tainting the tablecloth to near zero, while no such device exists for decanters. With the latter I always have to use napkins, because non-dripping decanters do not exist. (If somebody else at the table helps himself, they never bother to take the napkin, and there you are again with the stains.)

Besides, double decanting into the original bottle minimizes the risk of confusion when you serve more than one wine.

M.

Most of the wines I drink don't need decanting but rather need aeration. In fact I have been using a spare bottle and leave the wine for a while in two half-filled bottles, then at serving time put all the liquid back into the original one.

But I remember your post aboutthe chemistry flask, and I still want to try and find that elusive ideal glassware

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Sedement and all?

Again, Mike is talking aeration, not decanting

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Which Mike is talking what?

You are talking aeration, I guess; I am talking both. In case of sediment I pour the remainders into a glass (serves as cork taint check) and rinse the original bottle.

M.

That shouldn't be too difficult, I presume. A local wine lab should know a source.

M.

Michael, most of the wine I drink were bottled yesterday - I am trying to find a way of eliminating the middleman, and doing away with the glass vessel altogether !!!!!!!! :-))))))

st.h

3-4 years ago, we bought one set each of both the IKEA red and white glasses. They've served us well for the usual $5.99 - $12.99 bottles of wine we've enjoyed. Even for those special occasions, when we'd splurge close to $20 per bottle, not too sure if lead crystal may have made our wine taste any better.

But now we're into much more expensive wines (not every week, we still enjoy our favorite cheapies). But I'd say at least once a month, we're opening up a $50+ Bordeaux, and are acquiring a nice collection: so far $50 - $130 (excluding shipping) per bottle, mostly found on winecommune.com. I'm looking to grow my collection even more, eventually containing some real classics. Also aim is to build a wine cellar, but that's another story in itself.

Additionally, we seem to be entertaining larger groups of friends these days (or there are just more wine drinkers than there used to be) -- our seven IKEA glasses (one broke) are no longer enough. Saw something about "Riedel" here a few weeks ago, checked out the prices, and decided to go to IKEA once again. However, this "Spiegelaus" does look like it would be not only affordable, but add a little elegance too. But I do have a few questions before I place my order through amazon.com....

1) What's the difference between their "Authetis" and "Vino Grande" sets (unlike Riedel, their web-site is not that helpful). 2) Why would I want to choose a Bordeaux glass over a Red Wine glass. Will it make my Bordeaux taste better? Would it make plain Merlot taste worse? 3) "Magnum Bordeaux glass"? I can understand a Magnum Decanter, but how should that make a difference? Is it just a bigger glass? 4) And speaking of decanters, currently I use a glass jug (like they would serve iced tea in. It seems to work okay, but might my wine taste any better if I decanted it in a "proper" container?

Thanks

"Vincent" wrote in news:TULTc.1534$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr32.news.prodigy.com:

Hey Vincent, here's a tip, every so often, Amazon has a special on Spiegelau, buy a set of one type of glass, get another, free. I think Dale has purchased some(?), anyone know the last time they had the sale? The last mention I've seen in the group was December... d:D

Places like Costco and Sam's have excellent sales on Riedel glasses from time to time. I bought a set of 8 Bordeaux glasses from Costco for $72 after spending $68 each for Burgundy glasses from a wholesaler.

Leaded crystal will NOT make your wine taste any better. The only purpose for the lead content is that the glass sparkles more and LOOKS better. It is possible, however, that the glasses made from the leaded crystal will make the wine taste better because of their size/shape.

Size, shape and price :P I haven't compared the two to be able to say anything terribly useful here, but will note that I like the Authentis I got on Amazon quite a bit.

Here you venture into the area of marketing hype. Yes, the "Bordeaux" style glasses offered by Riedel and Speigelau (and others) are large, which helps you to smell the wine (and what we taste is largely dictated by smell) and may be better shaped to trap the odorants in the headspace of the glass. However, whether the wine tastes any better is entirely subjective. Magnifying the flavors of many wines makes their flaws all the more evident. Whether each shape offered by the manufacturers actually maximizes the flavors of a particular grape/style is a contentious issue.

No, the purpose of a decanter is to separate a wine from its sediment and often to aerate it. Merely the act of pouring the wine from one container to another will help aerate the wine. In bigger tastings I've decanted from one bottle to another (clean) bottle. That works just fine.

HTH Mark Lipton

Mark Lipton wrote in news:cfodek$dja$ snipped-for-privacy@mozo.cc.purdue.edu:

not too sure if lead crystal may

Although technically correct there is an aesthetic flaw in your reasoning. The better ooking wine glasses (ie crystal) do have a hand in making the wine taste better just as porcelain cups make coffee taste better, and good china helps food. We perceive the quality of our foodstuffs through our visions as well as our tastes and sense of smell. The feel of the glass, its weight and balance, all are a part of the experience. (though as you point out, it does not interact chemically to create a new sensation)