Alan - have you never tasted a wine out of different wine glasses? All I can tell you is my palate tells me there is a difference and that is all that matters to me. I don’t care what the science says or doesn’t say is possible.
We have done this many times. Yes, there is a difference. Nothing new here.
Well, the shape of the glass can steer the wine towards a different part of your mouth, this leading to different ‘taste sensations’. Think champagne flute vs. champagne out of a standard white wine glass . . .
Cheers.
@AlanRath, perhaps my answer that I got more acidity needs further explanation. It’s SUBTLE, but I get a higher toned fruit profile on the nose that I ASSOCIATE with wines that have higher acidity levels.
I don’t think glass shape affects the taste directly, but smell has so much to do with what we taste that I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that taste is affected by glass shape. Associations and what we expect to taste based on smell or other preconceptions, even quality of stemware can trick our taste buds. Drink wine out of a highball glass and see what happens.
I have done the last 3 Riedel classes over the the last 3 years.
I am recently new to the wine scene as well.
3 years now. But I did enjoy wine in the years previous to these last few.
The glass Does make a huge difference as many of you have stated.
We did many side by side tastes of white and red wines with the right glass and the not so right glass and the difference has been astounding!
So, I would say that from my Limited experience, the proper stemware makes a significant difference.
Just a Rookie’s opinion.
Larry, did you look at the graphic I put together of the different wine glass shapes? Once you tip the glass up, the shape no longer matters - liquid fills the glass below the lip, and the only thing that can matter at that point, as the liquid spills over the edge into your mouth, is the diameter of the opening. I’ll give you that a narrow flute could perhaps direct wine more narrowly than a wider glass. But even then how can it matter? You take the sip, swish it around in your mouth. Unless the liquid somehow has a memory of what diameter glass it came out of, there just can’t be a difference.
Is shape a psychological factor? I believe it is. So maybe it could have a real effect on one’s perception of a wine. Just like a heavy walled glass seems less pleasant to drink from. But I think that perceiving a difference between glasses is much, much more likely to be due to palate saturation/recovery from one taste to another than to some actual physiological factor.
Better that than two girls, one cup.
That was the joke.
Changes in smell has been my working theory for why wines can seem to have such a different flavor profile from different glasses. Because they definitely do.
“bass notes”? I’ve never tasted fish in my wines before. That’s some stemware.
Of our 5 senses, the sense of smell is recorded separately and in a different part of the brain than the other 4. As a result and as a FYI, we distinguish and remember smells much more vividly and in the case of wine consumption, our olfactory sense plays a major part in interpreting the entire experience. Think of how many times you recall an odor from early childhood and can pinpoint what it is and when you experienced it.
For this reason, the shape of the wine glass does in fact play an important part in getting the aromatics more fully expressed. Once perceived, that influence is joined with the taste perception from the receptors on our palate and tongue.
e.g. champagne in a flute vs. a chardonnay, Bordeaux or other larger rimmed glass.
Some of us did a blind nose on the same champagne with different stems being held by another person so we only had the aroma to go by. Major difference and one of the reasons Champagne houses are coming out with larger stems in their tasting rooms and wine events.
Theres a lot more neuroscience here and Im oversimplifying for the sake of clarity and comprehension.