Imagine the scenario: you're having a great time and just left Gabriel Kreuther, or maybe Valbella, in Bryant Park, NYC after a tantalizing meal and great wine. One of New York City's great offerings to foodies everywhere is a surefire epic meal out at a stellar restaurant. Good food, good wine, and good friends. Cheers!
However, now three hours later, you are less diplomatic and more intoxicated versions of yourselves. You ask for a glass of wine in a late-night, charming and popular restaurant bar with the sincerest of hopes, to find that there's a very decent glass of Valpolicella available by the glass - and then, served in the wrong physical wine glass.
This irks me to no end, when it happens. Personally, I could overlook even an inferior red wine to my choice from the Veneto, if it weren't for that woeful glass they just served it in. How can you order good wines that are obviously supplied by Italian specialists only to have them served in bad restaurant wine glasses?
What to do now? The ambiance is great in the venue, and you don't want to leave your friends. Fear sets in.
Should you say something to the bartender? Ask for different glass? Slip out the side exit and call it a night? Irish-style?
No, none of us can abandon a night of good memories because of a wine glass, correct? That is crazy.
To deconstruct the crazy thoughts, let's talk about how and why wine glasses are so important when drinking wine and how it makes you feel, in just four points.
All people are visual creatures, and when we are served a glass of wine in a great-looking glass in a restaurant or bar, we have an added appreciation for the wine we are about to drink.
Would we want a candidate turning up to an interview in shorts and flip-flops if it was not a surfing business? Or Facebook?
When customers feel appreciated by an elegant wine glass, it makes a first impression. The wine could be a vintage or two old, but they will enjoy how it was delivered. They look nice and set the mood for something unique and special.
In recent years, there has been an uptick in supposedly trendy restaurants using stemless glasses as actual wine glasses. I have quietly sat and watched to see how far this might go before there was a stemware-inspired, fanatical political party to root for. There would have to be people that despise this. With restaurants in mind, I am not a big fan of these.
A hand on the glass bowl is warming the wine, affecting the overall flavor with temperature. It also feels like clutching a water glass. If you are only interested in partaking in water, juice, soda or cocktails, that's fine. But wine have their own glass design for a variety of reasons. It's a direct deprecation of the wine itself. Good wine does not deserve this, and neither do wine drinkers.
A person can get lovely aromas from swirling a wine glass correctly, and restaurant diners enjoy that by swirling with proper wine glasses.
What we see, smell, and taste usually helps us dissect a wine and decide if we like it. When we pick up a glass by its stem, we can see and smell aspects we look for in that wine. We can touch, tilt and waver the glass, hold it against white, see the colors and smell the wine from an open bowl. That is when we know more about wine when it's in the best possible setting: a proper tasting glass.
Every restaurant will want us as a returning customer, and if you had a wonderful wine-tasting experience, as customers you will most certainly return. When you taste a wine based on sight and smell, even without food, it should give you everything you want out of it. It could be a Greek Assyrtiko with lots of minerality, or Burgundian Pinot Noir, or a South African Red Blend, earthy and full-bodied - whatever your palate, it is important to have it in the correct stemmed wine glass.
Stemware allows you to fully make the most of your experience with every wine you have, with every meal, in every restaurant that you have it. In fact, there are so many restaurant options in New York City, and every global city, that why would you go back to somewhere that doesn't offer you the courtesy of a rewarding glass?
Return to the places that give you a lovely glass of wine to enjoy - because you are likely to stay for that ever-important second glass. The cheap alternatives just are not worth spending the hard-earned paycheck.
Available wine glass brands you can buy for home enjoyment include:
ZALTO - This epitome of glass-making - or glass-designing - hails from a certain century and a certain time as far back as 1842. Today, thanks to appreciators in 2019 Berlin, a certain Kurt Joseph Zalto is lead designer at the top Austrian producer of exceptional quality wine drinking glasses today. They are not cheap, extremely fragile, hand blown crystal and considered a splurge for most people. In wine circles they are considered to be the corp d'elite of stemware.
RIEDEL - Riedel is one of the biggest names in the world for the global wine community, widely commercially available and with an expansive selection. Dating as far back as 1756, and introducing their famous 'varietal-specific' ranges in the 1950's, there are different levels and options as far as you can possibly drink.
They also run a pretty penny from your card. I have a 'Sommelier Series' Bordeaux pair of these, and I recommend at least having one or two glasses that you keep far away from the clutches of children, pets and unstable surfaces. Like Zaltos, they are best washed by hand carefully in warm-to-hot water and dried with a paper towel only, to achieve optimal polish and shine.
LUIGI BORMIOLI - This Italian manufacturer from the Provence of Parma dates back to 1825 and they are glass-packaging specialists. Exported to 100 countries, they package many of our favorite international fragrances and high-end liquors like Cognac and Whiskey. They also have a wine glassware arm that is available for wine enthusiasts.
MARK THOMAS - Mark Thomas is another Austrian producer of fine stemware, however he is a newer, more boutique, and eclectic player on the stemware scene. Founded in 2014, his glasses are hand-blown from lead-free crystal in European facilities and he has this wonderful line called the 'Double Bend Glass' that is bound to 'wow' anybody that comes over to your place.
Many of the above brands are available in homeware stores such as Williams Sonoma and online directly.
Look forward to your next glass of wine.
