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!

This time of year, around the 4^th of July, we in this country are reminded to give thanks for our freedom.  This year’s holiday falls amidst the 2008 presidential elections, and finds many people is the country worried that their issues and concerns will be addressed by their representatives.  Lately, I have been thinking about what a blessing it is that my family and I continually respect each others’ opinions on the “right” way to make our ideas reality and commune over laughter, love, and of course, wine.

When we opened Clifford’s two years ago, my mother, stepfather, and I all agreed that we wanted our place to be a special meeting grounds where everyone would feel welcome.  We felt that since we have been able to develop strong and loving relationships with one another despite our political differences, we would set the tone for a business as one of open-minded acceptance.

I’m pleased to say that over the years, we have made a lot of friends in Wimberley. some of them great friends with vastly different opinions.  (You know who you are!)  We’ve sipped Sangiovese in front of the fireplace in the winter and laughed over Pinot Gris on the porch in the summer.  We’ve even occasionally discussed politics, and it’s funny how often all of our opinions boil down to the same exact two: don’t tell me what to do, and keep your hands off my money!  

Through it all though, we’ve remembered what is our most commonly shared opinion: that lots of good humor and unconditional love among family and friends is the greatest blessing we can share.

This year, especially as the political debates heat up, I urge you to keep your eyes and ears on what is dear and true to all of us: a kind word from a friend, a warm embrace from a loved one, and maybe, if you’re lucky, a lot of laughs over a good bottle of wine.