Glasses, not vases

Having different glasses for different wines can flip from being exciting and something special into an event that is bordering on being silly

IT IS THURSDAY night and I am sitting in a central London restaurant having dinner.  It’s been a tough week and I feel like a bottle of something special.  There is a sharp chill in the air and the southern Rhône beckons.

Guigal’s Brune et Blonde Côte Rôtie is a tempting £70 for the 2000 vintage.  Young perhaps, but it’s been a very tough week and it will be interesting at the very least.  We go through the rigmarole and I ask if we can have larger glasses, the logo-embossed current offering being rather on the small side.

The response is a definite no. Not "I’ll check," or "I’m afraid not," but a simple "No."  They do not do larger glasses.  Hold on a second, I think, this wine is not far short of £100 and you want me to drink it out of thimbles (I am exaggerating of course).  Quick rethink.

Suddenly the southern Rhône seems too distant; something rather less challenging from the Médoc perhaps, at less than £30.  I feel the glass matches the wine perfectly.  There will always be another occasion, albeit in a different restaurant, for the splash-out.

Il Desco in Verona has a well-known and fantastic wine list which, in the old days of lire, scaled dizzy heights in zeros.  While you now pay in euros the restaurant policy remains the same – the more expensive the wine, the bigger the glass.

I’m sitting ordering an expensive Barolo and the glasses heading towards the table look like vases.  This is a wine I want to drink, not swim around in.  Between these extremes lies a course of investment that allows you to match your wine list with your customers’ expectations.

Riedel has led the way in fashioning different glasses for different wines, but other companies have now followed suit. While getting your nose inside a glass designed for aromatic whites may require some detailed navigation, the theory is translated into ample reward.

If, as a customer, you are going to spend the money it seems only fair that you should enjoy the full benefits.  Wine consultant Peter McCrombie is in no doubt that glasses play a hugely important part in the experience, but is also quick to point out how ludicrous it can all become.

Where once all wine tastings were conducted using ISO tasting glasses, a great many are now resorting to other types, generally bigger and shaped to deliver more information which can only be a good thing.

McCrombie’s advice is that if you have wines on your list that you think will benefit from a non-standard glass you should consider five glasses – three for reds and two for whites. Before you all gasp at the outlay, remember that in any given night you are unlikely to be serving too many tables with those rare bottles of claret from under the stairs.

Which are the glasses to go for? In the reds something for Pinot Noir, Chianti and Bordeaux while in the whites one for aromatic grape varieties and one for the more Burgundian wines on your list.  Do keep in mind that these glasses are not tied to wines by umbilical cords. 

The Chianti shape, for example, is pretty versatile and Zinfandel will perform excellently in them.  With all this focus on the glasses themselves it is easy to forget about the theatre aspect. 

Bringing a wine, maybe a decanter and a change of glasses to a table can tie somebody up for quite a few minutes on a busy Saturday night, and you do need to think about what sort of establishment you are to be. Remember the huge vase experience in Italy.

As Mr McCrombie is quick to point out, having different glasses can flip from being exciting and something special into an event that is intimidating and bordering on being silly.  There are some, and I would be among them, who believe that all you really need are two "better" glasses; one for red and one for white.

If a customer orders above a certain point on the list they automatically get bigger, better glasses.  Don’t forget about those who are tempted either by the theatre or who happen to know a thing or two about the wine they have ordered.

There are a great many inexpensive wines that benefit enormously from the aerating inherent in decanting, either into a decanter or into a voluminous glass.  We are inclined to forget in this age of endlessly eating out that theatre and excitement play a huge part in customer enjoyment.

Being made to feel special is not something it particularly pays to underestimate.

• Hugo Arnold is a food writer and restaurant consultant (www.hugoarnold.com)