It's wine time

Glasses, no, not the ones you wear on your face, that help you see. The glasses you fill with wine that make your vision all blurry.

Like I've mentioned, I did a run of amateur theatre shows. I was (low)tech, sound and lighting etc. I played the House soundtrack in the interval. Well, we were drinking some pretty atrocious pinot grigio post show 3 and 4. Well, well, community centre number 5 was a marvel. It had a bar, and two smartly dressed chaps with white hair and grey stubble pouring the drinks, a total novelty on the circuit we frequent. So interval, 9pm, I got a glass of wine, wahoo! For free too, but even if I'd have paid, it was a 125ml measure and would have been £1.60, an absolute bargain. I'm pretty sure it was a generic French 'vin du pays' merlot, I only caught a glimpse of the label. It was pretty young, 2009 I assume. Being a merlot it was pretty fruity, but had an unexpected blackjack liquorice and cough syrup feel to it, still pretty thin and not much depth, more toes in a paddling pool than diving in a swimming pool.

Aaaaaaanyway, glasses. The only downside, was the tiny little Paris goblet that it was served in. If you don't know what I mean by Paris goblet look it up (or if I get technical enough, I might see if I can 'do a photo', I took one...). I think they should all be smashed or melted, they are the lowest of the low when it comes to wine. You might as well be drinking from a shoe. A good glass makes a good wine great and an average wine, well, average, but you get the idea. This tiny little goblet they served me the wine in was frustrating, I wanted to give it a swish and a sniff but couldn't, didn't get a chance to open up the wine. Also, it was poured to about a millimetre from the top of the 125ml glass and I almost spilt it, see previous weeks posts, which was a concern.

When I'm at home, I use a 750ml glass, it can fit a whole bottle of wine in it... I don't EVER do that though. Honestly, it's stupid. I got given the glass as a joke birthday present and loved it instantly. It's a proper handful, pretty cheap so it's quite robust and I'm not fussed about breaking it. I like the room it gives, you can almost lose a 125ml measure in it, but gives plenty of room to swish and swill and sniff.

We sell loads of glasses in the shop, and in every pub you go to they have robust wine glasses and restaurants have posh, elegant glasses, different for red and white and water and whisky. Students, probably have a Kit Kat mug from Easter or a stolen pint glass.

Still, wine glasses are the lovely shape they are to engage smell, you taste with your nose too. They should be a good size, bigger than your measure, give it some room. Room to swirl, room to look at the colour, room to assess the tannins (the legs or tears you get rolling down the inside of the glass give an impression of viscosity or syrupyness or thinness). Bubbles or no bubbles however should have a different glass. The fizz flutes concentrate aroma and keep bubbles, bubbly.

Either way, the glass has an effect on the wine.

Get a few glasses and do a little experiment. (I do love a good practical test). Do it, do it now. Well later. Get an opaque mug, a pint glass and and an average wine glass. Not a Paris goblet style glass, smash it if you've got one and spend £3 in Wilko on 4 perfectly acceptable wine glasses. Right, got that? Doubt it. Pour the same amount of wine in each glass. The three things to assess in a wine are sight, smell and taste. In that order. Now, the mug, what does the wine look like. Can you even tell if it's red, white or rose? Now smell it, and then compare the smell to the wine glass and the pint glass... Which one smells more alive? More interesting? Then try a little wine from each glass. Which one tastes the best? (If they all look, smell and taste the same to you, then stop reading now, go back to your brown paper bagged paint thinners, sit on the naughty step and think about what you've said and done...)

If I'm worth the words in this blog, the wine glass comes out on top. Better sight, you can see it. The colour gives you an impression of what the wines going to taste like, an earthy rusty red or bright fruity purple, a shiny crisp silver or warm sunshine. Better smell, more intensity and a wider range, from bin bags to cough syrup, from apples to vanilla. Better taste.

That's just the glass.

That’s it for now, you can follow me on twitter @danprobert and you can come and see me in-store at the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen Store in Woodbridge, Suffolk. Should you wish.