1 of 4
2 of 4
3 of 4
4 of 4
In my last post, I expressed an opinion about wine service practices in local restaurants--or the lack thereof. The temperature of wine is one component. The other is glassware.
Until recently, the majority of restaurant-issue stemware was clunky, durable, and utilitarian. And still there was breakage. More delicate, thin-lipped stemware (at left) was found only in the finer, more sophisticated restaurants. However, over the last 10-15 years, with the advent of pricier wines and better wine programs, all restaurants have become more sophisticated, so today's diner knows more about wine than ever before, and expectations are higher.
If curated properly, a restaurant's by-the-glass wine program can be a significant (and potentially powerful) profit center. That's why I'm surprised more isn't done to maximize it. Better restaurants use better plates and flatware....they should use better glassware as well. And many still do not.
Maybe we should blame the folks at Riedel, the best-known, best-marketed, and arguably the best wine glass manufacturer in the world. Anyone who's attended a premier wine event has probably returned home with a souvenir glass bearing one of Riedel's trademark etchings, one signifying a machine-blown glass (above left), the other, a glass blown by a human (below left).
If you didn't already own a nice set of stemware, chances are it quickly became your favorite glass. Why? Several factors--mainly the shape of the bowl and the delicacy of the cut-glass lip, both of which affect the perception and therefore the enjoyment of wine.
Take the “Riedel Challenge” (I did), and you'll discover that identical wine served in different glassware tastes different and wine served in superior glassware often tastes superior. Chris Hoel, an Advanced Sommelier, wine consultant for Soutirage, and SLM contributor summed up the phenomenon this way: "The right glass often makes the difference between 'Um, yeah, it’s OK' and 'I love this wine.'" If customers love the wine, they will buy more wine.
So I maintain that it's in the restaurateur's best interest to offer wine in appropriate stemware--appropriate to both the restaurant and the sophistication of its wine list. Only the bottom tier of restaurants should be reverting to granny's old-fashioned, small-bowled, thick-stemmed clunkers (like at right). Anyone else doing so is shortchanging its customers. Diners who have invested $35 in a rib-eye simply deserve better.
And like serving wine at optimum temperatures, this is a problem that's easy to fix, and whose solution will pay dividends.
