Do wine lovers really care what kind of glasses they drink their precious liquid out of? By golly they do - more and more as the wine bug bites. They want to be able to see the colour of the wine clearly, so plain, colourless glass is best. They want to be able to sniff those tempting aromas, so a shape that tapers in at the top is vital. They want to enhance the sensual pleasure of wine-drinking with a fine-rimmed glass that looks and feels good. They want one make above all others. Riedel.
This Austrian family firm, now in the hands of the 10th generation, is to wine glasses what Porsche is to fast cars, what Mont Blanc is to fountain pens, what Valrhona is to chocolate. The ne plus ultra. Nine times out of 10, when you see a photograph of a winemaker with a glass in his hand in Decanter magazine or Wine Spectator, it's Riedel crystal. And at nine out of 10 of the very smartest tastings, the rows of slender stems bear the Riedel trademark. Some wineries (such as Robert Mondavi) - insist that nothing else will do.
What is all the fuss about? Riedel glasses beautifully fulfil all the requirements mentioned above, but their elegant shapes are based as much on science as aesthetics. In the early 1960s, Claus Josef Riedel, father of the present managing director Georg, pioneered a range of glasses whose different shapes were designed to enhance the characteristics of different wines. The underlying theory is that particular parts of the tongue detect particular taste sensations - sweetness at the front, salt and acid near the sides, bitterness at the back - and the shape of the glass influences which tongue zone the liquid mainly passes over. So, a naturally acid wine like Pinot Noir tastes less acid in a Riedel Pinot Noir glass than otherwise; a naturally tannic wine less tannic, given the Riedel treatment, and so on. I was highly sceptical about these claims, I must confess, until I had a chance to play around with some of the glasses. Now I believe them. But maybe we shouldn't get too bogged down in the technicalities. As Erik Robson of Mitchells, the Irish agents, points out, you don't have to engage in a textbook-type tasting to appreciate their strong points. They look superb. They don't topple over easily. They are lovely to drink out of and, unlike cut glass, nice and light to hold.
But how are we to choose from three ranges that include scores of different shapes? "As a starting point, we always recommend the machine-blown, machine-washable Vinum glasses, rather than the mouth-blown Sommelier range," says Erik Robson. The Chianti glass (£10.95) is the most versatile all-rounder; the Chardonnay glass (£10.95) the best all-purpose glass for white wine. Also popular and highly covetable are the Bordeaux glass (£13.20), the Prestige Cuvee Champange flute (£10.95) and a properly capacious port/sherry glass (£10.50). Not all that expensive, considering the long-term tactile pleasure you're assured for the price of a single, decent bottle of wine. "Pleasure is what it's all about," Robson agrees. "When I visualise the glasses in use, I don't just think of dinner parties. I think of somebody settling down in an armchair and quietly indulging in a glass of something nice." Riedel glasses are in a growing number of retail outlets all over Ireland - and for once prices here are keener than just about anywhere.
Riedel glasses are available from Mitchells of Kildare Street and Glasthule, Searsons Monkstown, Vintry Rathgar, DeVine Wine Shop Castleknock, Cheers-Gibneys Malahide, Vineyard Galway, Octavius Sligo, Geraghty's Fine Wines Carlow, Direct Wine Shipments Belfast.