You need to understand I am a person who has sipped more than
his share of wine from a rough, dishwasher-scratched Duralex
("Made in France") glass, a glass with all the elegance of a
Mason jar. I own fancy stemware for serious tastings, but
cleaning it is a bother and expensive, given the burliness of my
forearm and the delicate structure of the glass stem, snap. The
Duralex, which I first experienced in a Brasserie in a town
somewhere in France when I was tres younger than I am now, had
its own special cachet and seemed adequate for most of my normal
consumption at dinner. It was easy to hold, nearly unbreakable,
fit easily in the dishwasher, stacked easily for storage and
most importantly, did an excellent job of keeping the wine up
off the table top.

You can imagine my reaction when someone told me that the latest
of hip wine practice is for patrons to bring their own stemware
in a foam fitted case to restaurants, the better to enjoy their
wine selections. It was like someone reached up and flipped my
boggle switch. I could not believe it.

Then I went to a tasting at a friend's house where wines were
served from the same bottle during dinner, right in front of my
eyes, one glass in a restaurant clunker (although not Duralex,
something that would stand up to lots of abuse) and the other
serving in a Reidel glass, thin and very well formed for that
particular type of wine. So, you had your Chardonnay glass and
your pinot noir glass and your zinfandel glass all lined up,
each shaped differently.

And I was so ready to expose this hoax.
I was prepared to focus all the arrows in my not insignificant
quiver on the smells and flavors in those two different glasses,
and I did, and you know what? They were right. The wine showed
significantly better in the expensive stemware; it had better
aroma, looked nicer and, as I was told later, because the shape
caused the wine to spill onto the part of your tongue where its
predominant flavor would be most perceptive, tasted a whole lot
better. Same wine, different level of glass.

In the same way you can take a snapshot out of that messy pile
you and I both know you have in a drawer somewhere in your house
and spend a few dollars on a nice frame and instantly transform
that picture into a photograph, worthy of placing on your
fireplace mantle, so can you frame a wine in a way that draws
attention to its uniqueness and most attractive features by
spending some money on a special glass.

About the author: Paul Kreider, who made his first wine in 1975, is the owner and winemaker of the Ross Valley Winery in San Anselmo, California. Since 1987, with notable success, his small Marin County bonded winery has specialized in transforming modest lots of unique grapes into vineyard-designated wines, each with its own individual character and particular personality. Check our website at www.rossvalleywinery.com.