In Search of the Perfect Wine Glass For Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux Blends

I've been in many homes where wine is celebrated, where thoughtful wines are cellared and brought out to share with friends. And yet surprisingly few drinkers seem to pay much attention to the stemware in which their wines are served. Accuse me of snobbery if you must, but as the makers of Riedel stemware have long proposed and often demonstrated, the glass you pour the wine in has an impact on its flavor.

Why does it matter? Well, look at it this way. If you are taking in a work of art at a gallery or museum does the way it is framed and lit and displayed have an impact on your experience? If you are listening to a recording of a favorite piece of music does it sound different in your car or through headphones, and better if it's coming through really good speakers? Wine glasses are like lighting on a painting or speakers playing music. They change the way you experience the wine.

If you have not proven this to yourself, try this. Pull out a bottle of a wine you know and like and pour it into six different wine glasses. It's ok to throw in some tumblers, water glasses, a solo cup if you like – whatever is at hand. Sniff and taste from each container and I'm confident that you will find that they all give a different result, and there is probably one that shows the wine better than all the others. Given that, does it not make sense to find the best glass for your palate for every type of wine you enjoy?

I'm not suggesting that you need a different glass for every grape or blend or region. Nor do I believe that the designated glasses marketed by Riedel and others for specific grapes and blends are always the best. But to find the best for you takes a little bit of time and effort. And it can be a lot of fun.

I've made it a personal quest to find specific glasses for different types and categories of wine. This is especially important when reviewing, so you are confident that the glass is giving each wine its best chance to show well. And given that new styles of stemware appear with amazing regularity, it's a never-ending search, but one that provides a lot of enjoyment.

After much searching I found what I believe is the best glass for Pinot Noir and other light red wines – the Gabriel Glas one size fits all stem. But much as I like it, it doesn't fit all wines equally well, and I've spent years looking for a glass for Cabernet Sauvignon and other red Bordeaux grapes and blends that I like as much as I like the GG for Pinot. It's been a long search, and it's still unresolved.

Poking around my wine glass cabinets the other day I found at least seven different stems that I had acquired over the years in the hopes that one of them would be my go-to for Cabernet and the other Bordeaux grapes. I've tested them individually, but never run a multi-glass comparison with the same wine in all of them. That's the topic we'll explore here.

I've chosen these seven because 1) I own them and 2) they've outlasted many others that I tried and didn't much like. All but one are currently available and most are relatively inexpensive. I list them here in no particular order:

            • Luigi Bormioli – about $10, this sturdy stem rings like a bell, is dishwasher safe, and has the sort of standard size and shape that screams "fill me with Cabernet please!" I have a dozen of these; they are great for parties; they're hard to break and if one gets broken my blood pressure stays low.

            • Crate & Barrel 'Oregon' – about $8, this is made by Rona and for reasons unknown gets tagged as an Oregon glass. There is also an Oregon white wine glass sold by C&B.. The white wine glass was purchased while we were staying in an Air B&B that didn't have any decent stemware. We went out and bought a couple of these and liked them so much we've purchased a dozen to use as an all-purpose white wine glass. This is the red wine companion.

            • Riedel 'G' – this was sent to me as a sample some years ago. If memory serves it was intended to be Riedel's Malbec glass. It is no longer listed on their website, nor can I find it for sale anywhere else online. But I really like it so I'm putting it into the tasting lineup.

            • Karen MacNeil's 'Bold & Powerful' – The “Wine Bible” author has designed three custom stems for wine tasting based on flavor profiles. They are made by Oneida and sell for about $12 each in sets of various configurations. This one seems best suited for big reds.

            • Italesse 'Etoile' – I purchased six of these awhile ago, and they are still available for about $125 for a set of six. Quite honestly they have sat in the cupboard unused for the past couple of years, so I thought it would be time to give them one last shot at greatness.

            • Zenology – sold by Wine Enthusiast (my former employer), these go for $40 for a pair. The tall shape is elegant and is supposed to enhance the aromas of your red wines. One caveat – I do not believe these would be dishwasher safe and it's a difficult glass to wash (I hand wash all my stemware) and dry.

            • Riedel 001 – I came across this line while searching for the Riedel 'G' mentioned above. A four-bottle pack sells for around $60. Each glass holds 35 fluid ounces which is almost a bottle and a half of wine were you to fill it all the way to the top. At first glance I thought these were too big but I have given it a solo test and found that I rather like it. It's machine made, (theoretically) dishwasher safe, and would seem to have the volume to showcase older wines and aromatics.

I decided to try all seven with a newly released Cabernet Sauvignon and a well-cellared Bordeaux blend. I chose the 2017 Corliss Cabernet Sauvignon for the first flight. Corliss holds wines quite a bit longer than most wineries, so this is their current vintage. A new release with a bit of extra bottle age I thought might be a better test rather than a super young wine that may have been bottled just a few weeks ago and could be suffering from bottle shock. For an older wine I chose a Woodward Canyon 2009 Estate Reserve. This is a full-on Bordeaux blend – 43% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Franc, 15% Petit Verdot and 14% Cabernet Sauvignon – and it's also a rockin' 16% alcohol.

What qualities am I looking for in a wine glass? I want it to capture the aromas of the wine, with as much detail as possible. I want it to present all the components of the wine – the fruit, the acid, the tannins, the nuances of the site and the impact of the barrel or the amphora or the steel in which the wine was fermented or aged. I want the glass to display all the layers and flavors and depth that the wine has to offer, without putting too much emphasis on any one component or muting another.

In order to explore this I set the glasses out in the order above and poured about two ounces of wine in each. I went through them all on the first pass without tasting, simply sniffing for aromas. Once a little more time had passed I went through and tasted, from glass one to seven. I waited awhile longer and tasted again in reverse order. I repeated this over the course of several hours as the wine opened up and breathed.

For me the top two glasses were the same with both wines. The 'Bold & Powerful' Karen MacNeil glass conveyed more subtlety, more depth and more detail overall than any other stem. The Riedel 001 provided the most joyful experience. It's the Aaron Judge of wine glasses, and it knocked the flavors out of the park.

For general purposes both the Luigi Bormioli and the Crate & Barrel 'Oregon' glass were perfectly acceptable, but neither captured the power or the elegance of the first two. The 'G' was ok but just not captivating, which may be why it's been discontinued. The Italesse – the most expensive glass – was a disappointment. It flattened out the finish of both wines and left a dead impression where the others punched up and extended the flavors.

The Zenology was in some ways the most distinctive. My notes emphasized pinpoint, refined flavors, good focus and a tight frame. It was better with the Woodward Canyon, giving it precision, concentration and showing the most youthful fruit of all.

Overall, I'd put the 'Bold & Powerful' number one by a nose; the Riedel 001 an absolute delight for your biggest reds; and the Zenology a fine choice for more refined reds. – Paul Gregutt

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NOTE:  The wines I recommend have been tasted over many hours and days in peer groups and are selected for excellence. I have chosen to eliminate numerical scores from this website. Only exceptional wines are shown, no negative reviews. Non-digital publications face long delays between the time wines are tasted and reviews actually appear in print. My notes are posted immediately with links to the winery website, so you may purchase them directly from the producer before they are sold out. I take no commission, accept no advertising, and charge no fees for wines reviewed on this website. Please contact me at paulgwine@me.com with your feedback and suggestions for future posts.

Coming next week:  I've been tasting dozens of Chardonnays and I have found some really good ones. If you've fallen into the Anything But Chardonnay camp it may be time to break out and give them another try. Some really amazing wines are out there and they are perfect for summer.

Heads Up:  In the coming weeks and months I am going to do features on Cabernet Franc, Syrah, GSM blends and other Rhône reds and blends. I am also planning a detailed look at the wines from the McMinnville AVA. Please send current and upcoming releases for these features no later than the end of September. Shipping information is published on this website or text me at paulgwine@me.com for details. Wineries seeking a full profile on this website may write me with your specific proposal and we'll put our heads together.

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