Lisa’s blog

Ever wonder why wine comes in so many different shaped bottles?  Why the neck of a Riesling bottle is long and slender, while Bordeaux is kept in a squat, fat necked bottle?

After the advent of glass blowing, wine was stored in round glass bottles because of the ease of blowing round, hollow spheres.  As glassblowing techniques evolved, the bottle shape was eventually elongated for easier transport and storage.

Fast forward to the present day, and you can see that winemakers have taken the fairly simple concept of wine preservation and created several nuances when it comes to bottle shape.  Just as one can identify the grape varietals of old world wines just by knowing the region from which the wine comes, it is also sometimes possible to identify wines by the shape of the bottle.

We’ll elaborate using the aforementioned Riesling bottle, because that the deviation that is most frequently mentioned by people when they ask us about bottle shape.  Most of us have purchased a wine in a long, slender bottle, sometimes just because we liked the shape!  The most familiar wines (to the American palate) that are stored in this shaped bottle are Rieslings and Pinot Gris, so when you see one, you can often assume the wine is from Germany or its neighbor, Alsace.  Even more specifically, you can narrow your assessment by taking into consideration of the color of the glass, in the case of our example, green glass suggesting the region of Mosel and brown the Rhine region. 

As you may have noticed while perusing those rebellious Australian labels, a lot of the old world wine traditions are being broken by New World winemakers.  Personally, as a studious little nerd, I really love learning geography and science in order to identify wine.  I also find it poetic to conjure images of the rolling hills or dry slopes of different lands and the colors and shapes of glass to identify my wines rather than a silly name or pun, but change is inevitable.  Just check out some of the bottle shapes for yourself and have some fun before the tradition ends!

News and Views article for May 2008

Last Friday night, after a delectable Tuscan feast (prepared by the incomparable Harlan Gibson), a friend of mine was helping me dry wine glasses and noticed that the large crystal glass he was holding was a bit different that our everyday wine glasses.  Specifically, he looked at me and said, “This glass seems different than the rest… what is it for?” To which I replied, “That, my friend, is a Riedel.”

(I next admitted that the following information has been quite beneficial to no more than eleven generations of Riedels, and like any overly nuanced product, should be appreciated with curiosity and good humor instead of religious fervor that will make you want to go out and spend your savings on stemware!)  But as a proud Bohemian, I do enjoy interesting glassware, especially when said glassware contains my favorite liquid.

Riedel wine glasses are unique because they have been created with the precise aromatic qualities and palates of specific grape varietals in mind.  More simply, if you like Chardonnay, there is a special glass shaped specifically to deliver the aroma molecules to the precise section of your tongue that will optimize the enjoyment of the wine.  Like Riesling? Montepulciano? Burgundy?  Riedel has got you covered, with a dizzying array of specially designed wine glasses for dozens of different wines.

According to the company’s website, the Riedel family began making glass in the 17^th century when the knowledge of the glassmaking process migrated from the Near East to Venice to Bohemia, following the timberlines for the wood that literally fueled the fires used in the process. 

Today the family run business operates from Kufstein, Austria, and their glassware is sold worldwide.  If you enjoy fine wines, I encourage you to experiment with a few Riedel glasses.  I have begun using them for our weekly wine tastings, so I welcome you to stop by and give them a try yourself. And if you’re interested in wine in general, I highly recommend a visit to the Riedel website (www.riedel.com) to learn more than you ever dreamed of about the world of tasting wine! Cheers and enjoy!