Wine Glasses - Demystifying the Decanting !

So, there are wine glasses and there are wine glasses. Many good hotels (yeah including the Taj) botch up this simple but very important part of the wine experience. Here is your opportunity to go one up on all of them. 

Mainly there are four kinds of glasses that are in play where wine (including champagne here) is concerned. The type of glasses are, the narrow long one – called a flute, the regular wine glass shape has two varieties, wider bottom and a more tapered bottom and finally a large round bottomed glass with a rim to match.

Why do we need all these glasses ?

As the box shows, each glass has a good reason for its existence. Since wines have different characteristics it is logical to use a glass which complements the wine and helps you best appreciate the wine and its special character.

The most important factor is how much air gets mixed with the drink. Since this liquid is trapped in a bottle for a while (sometimes a long long while) when it is exposed to air, it reacts with the oxygen in the air. This is oxidization of the wine. Some wines we want oxidized and others we don’t.

Typically the wines that have been hanging around inside the bottle for a long time could do with more oxidization. Therefore the larger glasses come in to play. White wines have a crisper flavor and unless you are drinking a mature chardonnay it makes sense to use the white wine glasses with the shape to hold the flavor.

Similarly champagne flutes are meant to hold off the mixing of air with the drink and therefore have a peculiar shape.

There are of course two schools of thought here, those who think the shape of the glass does not really make too much difference to oxidization and those who swear by it. So, whichever school of thought you might belong to, it is good to know the basis on which you can then build your arguments.

Let’s talk for a minute of the particular characteristics of the glass itself, not the shape. The thinner ones called crystal glass are made with lead content, this makes the glass sparkle (due to higher refractive index)  also the addition of lead or other minerals gives a little strength to the glass thus enabling the manufacturers to make them very thin (this of course makes them delicate). The minerals in the finish of the glass make the surface rough – not enough to be felt by the human hand – this lets the liquid in the glass oxidize better. 

Therefore there might be a leaning towards crystal glassware for wine. This of course comes down to your ability to manage crystal glass in your kitchen.

And now we come to the decanter. Here again there is some debate on whether it is needed or not. Earlier it was used to leave sediments of the wine inside the bottle and pour the liquid in to the decanter where it could breathe (get oxidized) and then be served elegantly from the decanter. If nothing else then just for the aesthetic value I would say get a good decanter and use it. Of course use it judiciously and only to age mature wine which needs to breathe before it can be sipped.

Decanters come in lovely shapes and I have seen these available at most stores selling good glassware in Bangalore. Some decanters have lovely stoppers or lids but do be aware that stoppering it will prevent it from breathing some more.  

Well, finally, whatever the glass the point is to enjoy the wine and the whole experience.