Layne’s Wine Gig Presents
Name Your Glass
By Layne V. Witherell
The Riedel Glass Company (founded in 1756) in Austria was acclaimed for producing some of the world’s highest quality stemware. But it was their revelation in 1958 that changed the entire way we view wine glasses.
One idea changed it all. “Varietal specific stemware” meant that every aspiring wine geek or sommelier ABSOLUTELY had to have every one of their glasses specifically designed for every grape variety and every different occasion in the world. The idea extended into the cocktail world. Not to mention decanters, which could fetch prices from $500 to $2,500 each.
I bought several of their high-end Burgundy hand-blown glasses for over $100 each back in the day. They were incredibly fragile and are serious works of art.
If you are into it, the glasses from their hand blown “Black series” run around $179 each. I’ve since decided that it was more fun to do our own thing with assembling stemware…
The Schott Zwiesel Paris Bistro Glass
Riedel bought the Schott German glass company and offered this line as a more reasonably priced selection to Riedel. This particular glass Lars is no longer available, but I would love to find more of these. I don’t know if it improves the aroma or taste of our wine, but drinking from them makes Judy and I both smile and that’s all that counts.
We had a dinner of burrata cheese from Apulia in Italy with fresh local tomatoes and basil. The wine was Velenosi Offida Docg Pecorino, native grape to Marche, Italy. It is a crisp delicious bridge between Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Every bit as good with the cheese as with the basil.
If you should run across more of these glasses e-mail me at lvwitherell@gmail.com.
ALL PURPOUSE RED
There are a zillion sizes and makers as well as prices for the all-purpose red stemware.
It works for a variety of reds which include Zinfandel, Cotes du Rhone, Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux, and the lot. If you want to go searching, whether in person or on your phone, the best deal is Libby Kentfield Estates All Purpose Glass. Shop away.
The wine is Logan Farrell, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 2023. It weighs in at 15% alcohol. Can you say fruit bomb, boys and girls? This thing is as dark and jammy as Napa Cab is allowed to get.
You can have it with a steak or spread it on toast. Just don’t have it for breakfast. It will ruin your entire day.
Actually, we both enjoyed it. It was an outrageous change from the “medium body” world that many wines have become.
PINOT NOIR GLASS
I did attend a Riedel seminar a couple of years back where they presented a Pinot Noir “show and tell”. The idea was to show the difference between drinking from an ordinary glass versus the wonky specimen pictured.
I am convinced now that Judy and I drink a larger share of wines from Burgundy, the Willamette Valley Oregon, and the Sonoma Coast region of California — all pricey little devils. They deserve special treatment.
Anthill Farms Campbell Ranch Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California, 2023 is deliriously great, complex, wild foraged mushroom and meat on a stick style Pinot Noir. This wine is definitely deserving of something special for a glass. The three winemaking partners are what I term “new wave old vineyard revivers and rescuers.” They have created the ultimate “thinking person’s Pinot Noir.”
CHAMPAGNE GLASSES
Nothing in the glass world has gone through more permutations in style than Champagne glasses. They started out life as the “Marie Antoinette breast coupe” glass, then moved to the Jared Kushner rail thin in a suit glass. We are presently in a tall wine glass phase.
Frankly, we still enjoy the glasses that came as a set with a bottle of Perrier Jouet Champagne. They are of the hand painted, smaller, Art Nouveau glass phase. While the bottle is pricey, you at least get to keep the adorable little mementos.
SAKE GLASSES
Is it wine or beer? We enjoy our Sake cold with food. With all the 700-pound tuna coming into this part of the world there is nothing like a nicely chilled Sake to wash it all down.
With that said, we like small cups better for little sips, as there is nothing worse than crashing your head on the table at noon. Try Kurosawa Junmai Kimoto, 15% alcohol, 300ml., $12.
How about Halloween for a special occasion glass?
We picked up a set of these beauties at the going out of business sale of the late, great, Rhum Tiki Bar in Portland.
Pour in some Dearly Beloved Red Blend, Lodi, 2024, $10, 14.1% alc. You can throw in some cloves, nutmeg, candy corn, or anything. You can’t hurt this wine.
Remember, it is your money and your vibe. You can spend anywhere from hundreds of bucks per stem for the reverent museum like experience of looking at your wine through a masterpiece or you can opt for howling with laughter quaffing from your tiki pottery skull. You do you.
