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Do you even know how to adult if you don’t have a proper set of wine glasses?

That giant 21st birthday goblet does not count, I am afraid.

Neither do the various jars you’re upcycling. In fact, every time you take a sip of wine out of one of those, a sommelier somewhere recoils in horror.

We’ve all drank wine out of various vessels, from a juice glass to a coffee mug, and even straight out of the bottle on occasion, but there comes a time in one’s life when it is necessary to invest in higher-quality wine glasses.

It comes down to knowing where to start when buying said wine glasses, which can be slightly overwhelming thanks to the sheer number of options available.

The good news is that you don’t need all 20 different varietal-specific glasses, just a good set to keep the sommeliers at bay.

As Gear Patrol notes, wine glasses are specialised and made up of several components that optimise the experience.

Let’s explore that, starting with the rim.

When it comes to the rim (or the lip) of the glass – the part that touches your lips when you take a drink – the thinner, the better. This makes for less interference between the wine and your tongue, allowing you to better concentrate on tasting the wine itself and not the glass.

Then, there’s the bowl, which holds the wine, and should be bigger or smaller depending on how much a particular wine needs to breathe:

In general, a wider bowl leads to greater aeration, allowing the wine to “breathe,” which alters its flavor, as well as allowing for more aromas to make their way to your nose.

Different types of wine require different levels of aeration and aroma, but a general rule of thumb is that red wines should have a wider bowl, white wines should have a narrower one and sparkling wines should be served in the narrowest vessels.

To test this theory out, you’ll need wine.

Anthonij Rupert Wyne boasts all kinds of wines – with myriad red, white, rosé, and Cap Classiques on offer – all requiring their own unique drinking vessel.

Since the warmer season is beckoning, you could simplify things by investing in a good white wine glass, and then, of course, a delectable white wine.

The Cape of Good Hope range is a particular favourite at the moment and won awards recently. But there are also a few yummy options in the Anthonij Rupert and L’Ormarins ranges, too:

 

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Note the shape of the glass best used for the L’Ormarins Brut Rose NV.

Moving on to the debate for stemmed versus stemless glasses, which is one about tradition versus modernity.

Traditional wine glasses have a stem to hold the glass all hoity-toity. While this is a matter of elegance, it is also about preventing you from holding the bowl of the glass with your hand, which can raise the temperature of the wine.

The stemless wine glasses have risen in prominence recently due to being practical and clumsy-person-proof (the stem is delicate and breakable), as well as more visually interesting.

Now for the part that you’re all curious about – the varietal-specific wine glass conversation.

While having a universal wine glass is fine, if you really want the best experience for each of your preferred types of wine, then you’ll make specific considerations:

You can see how varietal-specific wine glasses work first-hand when visiting a local wine farm for a tasting:

 

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Spend some time at one of the estate’s two tasting rooms, take notes, and then make the best purchase for your at-home drinking needs.

Might as well make a whole day of it while you’re out in Franschhoek. It would be rude not to.

[source:gearpatrol]