Riedel Glass Difference

Hi! I am new to the forum and have enjoyed wine most of my adult life but just started to get "into It" so to say. I always felt stupid at restaurants and never knew what to buy so I bought a few books and started tasting different things. Anyway, in my research, I discovered the stuff about glass shape making a difference. I figured since I really love Red wine, I'd get a set of Bordeaux glasses. Amazon had them on sale. I got 8 of the Vinum series for $150 with not tax or shipping. I have to admit, the wine tastes better. However, 2 of my favorite wines are Chianti and Red Zinfandel. Do I really need to go out and get some of these glasses? How much of a difference is there between the 2 glasses. I think both of them taste great from the Bordeaux glass. I am just worried I am missing something.

Thanks!

In my humble opinion you do NOT need to get Riedel but you do need a few different glass types. I have:

Burgundy Bowls (Mikasa Vivendi)
Red Bordeaux glasses (Mikasa, Lenox and Riedel)
White Burgundy (Chardonnay) glasses (Riedel) (I use these for almost all non-sparkling whites)
Champagne Flutes (Lenox)

I use one of the Bordeaux glasses for port.

So, I think you need at least 4 types to start:

Burgundy Bowls
Bordeaux/generic red glass
generic white glass (Chardonnay or white Burgundy glass)
Champagne flutes

Others are nice to have but not mandatory when getting started - again, in my humble opinion, of course.

I have a set of generic white glasses. I really don't drink a lot of white wine and I do not care for Pinot Noir. Not sure if the proper glass would make a difference for the Pinot, but there are so many others that go with the Bordeaux style that is why I bought that set from Amazon. But, will the Zinfandel glass make the Zin taste a lot better than having it out of the Bordeaux/Cab glass? What exactly is the difference between these two glasses other than the size of the bowl? How will the smaller bowl affect the taste?

How will the smaller bowl affect the taste?

The smaller bowl does not give the wine as much space for the aromas to expand into your nose. This is a bad thing when the wine is something refined and delicate. This is a good thing when the wine is coarse and direct. A rough easy-drinking Auvergne gamay or Cotes du Rhone may be lovely and refreshing from a tumbler but start to seem very flawed from a giant Burgundy stem.

Similarly, if you pour port into a huge Burgundy glass you will find the alcohol sticking out way too much.

I don't think you need another glass for Chianti or Zin. The difference should be minor and you may find that you still prefer them out of the Bdx glass. I have a lot of stems but over time I have found that I really only use one or two that I like the best regardless of what I am drinking. My wife uses the same Bdx glass for everything (except sparkling). The exception is when we break out a really nice bottle of something and want to ensure we get the full pleasure but for 95% of our drinking one glass style is fine.

[David M. Bueker]

As someone who went hog wild on glassware I will say that it was a waste of $$.

I actually use the Chianty/Zin/Riesling glass for just about everything except Pinot Noir/Nebbiolo for which I use the bigger Burgundy bowl style glasses. The Bordeaux stems rarely come out of the box anymore, and having frequently compared the Bordeaux stem with the Chianti/Zin stem I see little to no difference in the wines.

If forced onto a desert island with only one set of glassware I would take the Chianti/Zin style glasses, and buy them from Schott Zweisel (sturdier).

Welcome to the WLDG Mark. Where are you located? There may be others here in your neck of the woods. This is a great place to hang out.

Thanks for all the help. I am in the Central Indiana area. I really like the bigger Bordeaux glasses. They were at an attractive price. I guess I'll use these for a while and then go from there.

Mark,

I spent a short time in Kokomo. Do you know if Peter's in Indianapolis still exists?

I think David hit the nail on the head - don't spend $$$$ on wine glasses. Spend it on wine.

i judged at a wine competition that used the basic riedel red wine glass. i gave so many gold medals i thought "hey, this is a pretty good glass". so i bought 16 of them and still love every wine i drink.

Like others, I picked up some fatter bowled Burgundy (aka Pinot aka Nebbiolo) stems to complement Bordeaux stems.

I've heard Chianti often referred to as a 'good allround' glass shape (i.e. if you had nothing else, these would be good).

We also had Sauvignon Blanc / Chardonnay stems from the 1st mixed set we have and often I'll use the chardonnay when not drinking much.

So we've got a spead, but most of our drinking is when it's just the two of us (so having a wide range is no hardship). However when entertaining, we've got some large Bordeaux & Burgundy stems (not riedel), plus a dozen ISO tasting glasses. One or other of these comes out if we have 6-8 people round, so everyone can have the same stemware.

So to come back to the question, I'd say no need to buy further stems, but worth some thought if you move onto Nebbiolo, Pinot Noir (or indeed very old wines, which I'll often pour into the burgundy shape glasses).

regards

Ian

p.s. WELCOME!!!

Welcome Mark. Agree with David B, the Chianti/Riesling glass!

We have an array of glasses. I think that I would include 6 of the port glasses and some of the Montrachet. The port stems go well for scotch, cognac, and dessert wine. Chardonnay tastes quite different depending on the glass. Some taste better in the standard Chablis/Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc glasses and other really need the wider bowl of the Montrachet to open up.
Many times we sample the wine in both glasses and then make our glass selection. The difference is really quite extreme!

As someone who went hog wild on glassware I will say that it was a waste of $$.

I actually use the Chianty/Zin/Riesling glass for just about everything except Pinot Noir/Nebbiolo for which I use the bigger Burgundy bowl style glasses. The Bordeaux stems rarely come out of the box anymore, and having frequently compared the Bordeaux stem with the Chianti/Zin stem I see little to no difference in the wines.

If forced onto a desert island with only one set of glassware I would take the Chianti/Zin style glasses, and buy them from Schott Zweisel (sturdier).

I completely agree, David. We use the chianti/zin glasses for most everything, even bubbly. And the burg bowls for pinot, nebbiolo, and gamay.

I did just get some chardonnay/viognier "O" glasses recently as they are kick-ass for sake. But the rest of the stems (syrah, bordeaux, flutes) just sit in the cabinet for the most part.

Mark,

I spent a short time in Kokomo. Do you know if Peter's in Indianapolis still exists?

I don't recall seeing a Peter's anywhere. Is it a restaurant? I know of a Peterson's.

I thank you all for the helpful comments. I probably should have come here before buying the glasses, but I did save some money as the Zin glasses cost more than what I paid. I also see that it's more important for the Pinot glass to be different for the light wines than for the Zin/Chianti. I'll pick up a set if/when these break or I see a good sale.

Thanks for the advice. This looks like it's going to be a great place.

Mark

I don't recall seeing a Peter's anywhere. Is it a restaurant? I know of a Peterson's

Yes. It closed. I always liked it.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Two upscale restaurants on the city's northeast side have closed, with the majority owner citing national chains, a slumping economy, poor winter weather and the September 2001 terrorist attacks as factors.

Peter's A Restaurant and Wine Bar, as well as Chops An American Steakhouse -- both located at Keystone at the Crossing -- closed Monday.

Peter's was open for 18 years. Chops debuted about a year and a half ago.

Proprietor Peter George said the most important factor in the closings was the fact that Peter's and Chops were surrounded by national restaurant chains.

Yes. It closed. I always liked it.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Two upscale restaurants on the city's northeast side have closed, with the majority owner citing national chains, a slumping economy, poor winter weather and the September 2001 terrorist attacks as factors.

Peter's A Restaurant and Wine Bar, as well as Chops An American Steakhouse -- both located at Keystone at the Crossing -- closed Monday.

Peter's was open for 18 years. Chops debuted about a year and a half ago.

Proprietor Peter George said the most important factor in the closings was the fact that Peter's and Chops were surrounded by national restaurant chains.

Yes, Peter's was one of the few restaurants worth a trip to Indy when we moved here in '90. It moved from downtown to the Keystone location at some point in the '90s, by which time it had been eclipsed by more recent restaurants such as Something Different, which also faded from the scene earlier this decade. Now there are a dozen different restaurants all worth a visit in Indy, all of which are more interesting IMO than Peter's was back in the day.

Mark Lipton

For what it's worth, I'm a big fan of the Riedel syrah glasses as an all-purpose glass. The Bordeaux ones strike me as not having enough slope to concentrate the aromas, although I have some. The Burgundy ones were nice but not good for weak/simple wines.

I don't recall seeing a Peter's anywhere. Is it a restaurant? I know of a Peterson's

Yes. It closed. I always liked it.

[/i]

But Peterson's is a great place. It's not a chain and has great food. Here is the a link to a newsletter that one of the local wine shops puts out talking about it. The review is from a while back, but the restaurant is there and going strong. When I first moved here, the building housed a Bob's Big Boy. He sure changed it. Here's the link.

http://editor.ne16.com/he/vO.aspx?FileID=23141

I really, really like my Vinum Zin/Chianti/Riesling glasses a lot. The shape and size are very comfortable for decent pours and they focus the aromas. Note that the three varieties all use the same Vinum model.

[Jenise]

Mark, I have a zillion types of glasses, but to be honest it's overkill. I'd have been better off to stick to maybe four sizes from the very beginning. Since you don't drink pinots (southern rhones and beaujolais also love the glass, but those may be moot points as well), there's one glass you can do without, but you'll love love love having both the big Bdx glass for your big reds and the more confining zin/chianti glass for just about everything else, including whites. (You might find yourself enjoying whites better if the glassware shows their charms better.)

Mark, I have a zillion types of glasses, but to be honest it's overkill. I'd have been better off to stick to maybe four sizes from the very beginning. Since you don't drink pinots (southern rhones and beaujolais also love the glass, but those may be moot points as well), there's one glass you can do without, but you'll love love love having both the big Bdx glass for your big reds and the more confining zin/chianti glass for just about everything else, including whites. (You might find yourself enjoying whites better if the glassware shows their charms better.)

Well my wife loves Reisling (me too) so the Zin glass seems to fit more of our wine tastes than I realized. I searched Amazon and if you dig a little, you get a good price. They have the same glass listed several different ways. I was able to find a set of 4 there for $61. I had a $5 off coupon so they end up costing less tha $15 a glass. I ordered 2 sets last night. Free shipping and no tax, just like my Bdx glasses. This should cover our bases for a while.

Thanks again.

Mark,
As others have said, the only other design (beyond Zin/Ries/Chianti and Bdx) that I find useful is a big bowl for Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo-based wines. Other than that, a Champagne glass is optional, but a good white wine glass does well with them if you're not too wedded to tradition. Riedel is also not the only producer of quality wine glasses. There's also Spiegelau (now owned by Riedel) and Schott-Zwiesel. This latter makes Tritan glasses that use a Ti-doped glass that is impact-resistant, making them very useful for party situations.

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

Love the Schott Zwiesel Tritans too, Mark. But would nix the Spieglau--five years ago it was literally all I owned, but the glass didn't hold up well to multiple washings--they're porous and they etch easily. Any glass that wasn't already already foggy when we moved here (where we have softened water) became unusable after about a year, even when hand-washed. By comparison, the Riedels and SZ's I've purchased to replace the Spieglaus and which have been washed many more times than the Spieglaus ever were, look as good as the day I bought them. I would not buy Spieglau again, though I can't address whether or not they're different now that they're owned by Riedel. The ones I had were purchased prior to acquisition.