There is a strong psychological impact to tasting wine (and food) and the associated taste memories. An inexpensive villages wine will taste better at a quaint cafe in Paris then from a bottle in your kitchen. A meal with a loved one will taste better than dining alone. I had a very ordinary meal in Denmark transformed to legendary by the unique and beautiful experience in the restaurant.
If fancy stems give you joy, good for you, but otherwise I ride with Keith on this one and don’t let stems distract from whats in the glass. (beyond a basic level of stem- hyperbole about mason jars and such excluded)
I assume you’re joking, as this is not a serious remark. Whether you keep your glass there or not, the smells that get to the retronasal area stlll come through your nostrils, and glass size still affects this.
Much of the activity in the retronasal area is affected by what happens in the mouth. Aside from compounds being released by the incorporation of oxygen, it is the slurping of liquids or the chewing of food that helps push those compounds into the nasal cavity.
No they don’t! Hence the root, “retro” - I know you know what that means! I have heard people claim they have eyes on the back of their head, but I have never heard anyone claim to have nostrils in the back of their throat.
Yes, you are right about that.Just so we know what we are arguing, though: are you claiming that orthonasal olfaction has no connection to your experience of the taste of wine and that wine drunk directly from a bottle tastes identical to wine from a glass with a large bowl that increases orthonasal perception? If you are not arguing that, that how can you deny the affect of glasses with larger bowls upon one’s appreciation of wine. Especially since, in my experience at least, taste does not occur some perceptible amount of time after smelling something but virtually simultaneously with it. Just because you put the glass to your mouth after you sniff it does not mean you aren’t still perceiving its odor while you are drinking, particularly with a larger bowled glass.
I’ll toss this in here for anyone who missed it. Really, there is no one perfect shape. And everything changes as you drink what’s in the glass and change the amount of liquid. Again, drink from what makes you happy
Suspect that Matthew is correct about the 25%. Try the Wine WIngs Pinot glass, magical experience. Its not psychological, the Reindel’s are really onto something, thats why they’ve been around for a few centuries…
