I’ve been to wineries where they give you water to rinse your glass between tastes.
I’ve been to places where they act like that would be akin to rinsing with acetone, and insist on rinsing with a splash of the next wine.
Many don’t seem to care.
Wine is like 85% water, so I don’t see how rinsing with water would be so bad.
The remainder in the glass from the prior pour (assuming the glass was assiduously emptied) is such a minute quantity, I can’t imagine it’s a big deal.
Thoughts/experiences/evidence-based recommendations on this?
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At Osteria Mozza in LA they will rinse clean glasses with a bit of wine from your bottle to prep the glass for the wine. Supposed to rid the glass of any aromas or residues still remaining. At least that’s what they told me.
I do that with water, as glasses do pick up subtle odors from cabinets. And you shake the last few drops of water out of the glass and proceed with the wine. But, as Nate described, there are folks who think that rinsing with water will compromise the wine. The only rationale I’ve seen to back up that assertion is something nebulous about altering surface tension…
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The Wine School of Philadelphia instructs to use a splash of wine to rinse out the glass and not water. Rinsing/swirling your glass with a small amount of next wine in the lineup primes your glass for the next pour but any residue of water can dilute your next pour, at least in theory. Since attending the Wine School for the first time in 2014, I haven’t rinsed with water prior to the next pour but don’t shun people who do, as Im sure if there is any dilution its minuscule. However, Im very pleased with the results of using a splash of the next wine.
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I’ve always done the wine rinse. Especially for smaller pours (2-3 oz or less), a little bit of water can really mess with the acidity.
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Unless the pour is tiny, dilution would seem minuscule indeed (unless one fails to shake out the ml or so that pools in the bottom of the glass after rinsing). But could this be about using tap water to rinse? Some tap water smells strongly of chlorine/chloramines, and that could be an issue. I use RO water to rinse wine glasses straight from the cabinet, and have not noticed any dilution effects between the first glass and subsequent (which have been “rinsed” by wine).
On the other hand, if a glass is tainted by some kind of residue, the ethanol in wine might do a better job at removing it than plain water…
At any rate, instruction that we do this or that is unconvincing, unless backed up by plausible rationale.
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Some call it tempering the glass. Supposedly more common in Italy.
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If you’re not being diligent about getting all the water out, a simple rinse and dump with water can leave 2-3 mL of water, or more in a sizeable glass. If you only have a once ounce pour that can be a 10% dilution, which in my experience does negatively impact the subsequent wine. But that’s a worst case scenario. I rinse with water or with wine or not at all and don’t worry too much about it.
…Except in a professional setting or when I’m analyzing flaws. In which case, a fresh dry glass for each wine.
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Many years ago I was at a Zind Humbrecht tasting in NYC. Leonard Humbrecht was leading the tasting and a few Somms were on the dais with him. After one of the Somms rinsing with water for the 4th or 5th time Leonard stopped and said to them, “What you are doing is the equivalent of a rainstorm the day before harvest.” Not sure I go that far but I’ve been rinsing with wine ever since. The poor Somm looked like they wanted to crawl under the table.
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I was tasting at Littoral and the host was aghast when I rinsed with water. No rinsing with wine between tastes though.
When switching wines at home (if not going to a different style glass) I rinse by pouring the new wine in the glass and drinking it.
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At a tasting once, Randy Dunn was pouring his wine and admonished my tap water rinse with a comment about water/ chlorine being worse than the drop of wine from the previous wine.
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All true, but not that hard to do a good shake and get out vast majority. There is probably minute amounts left on surfaces, but if you are doing a 1 oz pour you’re not touching much surface. While water “dilutes” more than wine, I really don’t plan on mixing wines (if you have to do 1 oz pours you obviously are using different wine for rinsing!).
I usually just dump before next wine, but if something had a flaw I generally use water (filtered), and don’t worry about dilution.
If you’re among those that think a rinse with water causes noticable dilution, assuming most of you have tasting groups, pretty simple to do a blind test where one person keeps track of whether he/she rinsed with water or wine (or not at all) in another room, and see how many people can pick out the “diluted” servings
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IMHO dilution is not the issue, it’s what’s in the water especially if it’s tap water, in a lot of places. Including but not limited to Chlorine.
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Call me a rookie and a rabblerouser, but I always thought the idea that a glass could be “primed” was utter bullshit.
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If your water is so chlorinated that rinsing a glass with it causes an issue with wine, do you drink it?
We run all our drinking/bubbling water through an Aquabelle filter, which is supposed to remove >99% of chlorine (though chlorine is seldom noticable in local water at restaurants etc)
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Exactly. Those who claim this haven’t ever been involved in winemaking. Se habla “watering back”?
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I only rinse when I come across a flawed wine, switching between young and very aged wines, or changing from sweet/dry. I rarely use the same glass for red/white but If I only had one glass, I might rinse when switching.
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