Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - 20

Stemware
Showdown
by Sarah Sutel Looper

Is there one wineglass that will show
all your favorite wines at their best? A
glass that can handle riesling as well
as chardonnay, pinot noir as well as
cabernet? We set out to find an allpurpose wineglass that's as beautiful
as it is functional, one that's not too
fragile. And one that won't blow a hole
in your budget.

From left to right:
Riedel, Zalto and Stölzle

20

WINE & SPIRITS

APRIL 2018

We began our search by contacting 50 wine directors at restaurants across
the country to ask what they use for their all-purpose glass. The vast
majority came down to three: Riedel's Cabernet/Merlot Vinum series,
Stölzle's Quadrophil Red series, and Zalto's all-purpose.
Personally, having worked in restaurants for 25 years, it took my breath
away that so many use Zalto, even their all-purpose glass. My first thought
was, "They're so expensive!" Even at the most ambitious places with
dedicated, professional glass polishers, glasses break-a lot. Why would
a restaurant dedicate so much money to those glasses knowing they'll
put such a dent in the bottom line? I was curious, and when we set up our
tasting and unveiled the top three glasses, our three invited wine directors
were curious and surprised, too.
Joining Executive Editor Tara Q. Thomas and me around the table were
Rebecca Banks of the Keith McNally Group, Nicole Hakli of Momofuku
Ssäm Bar and Andy Newlin of Raoul's. Collectively, Banks, Hakli and Newlin
have nearly 45 years of restaurant experience, so they've seen a thing or
two, from delicate stems snapped in guest's hands to entire racks of glasses
smashed. We popped some exceptional bottles for them at this stemware
showdown, as they would know how these wines should taste and perform.
All of us expected some variation with the wines in different glasses, but the
results were more pronounced than we had anticipated. Banks said it best:
"This is a difficult task for just one wineglass."
The wines included Domaine Nathalie & Gilles Fèvre 2013 Chablis
Les Preuses, von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser 2002 Abtsberg Riesling
Auslese, Vincent Girardin 1998 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champeaux,
Fontanafredda 1996 Barolo Serralunga d'Alba, and Diamond Creek 1998
Diamond Mountain Napa Valley Red Rock Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon.
The panel tasted one wine at a time out of the three glasses, side by side. We
evaluated each glass on two criteria: how it displayed the wine's aroma, and
how the wine performed on our palates.
Each of these wines showed completely differently in each of the glasses.
While we agreed they are all good glasses, they each accent different things.
The Riedel, for instance, seemed to stress the richness and bass notes of
every wine-not what any of us wanted for our minerally Mosel riesling,
but fitting for the warm, rich red fruit of the Diamond Creek cabernet. The
taller Stölzle, on the other hand, seemed to firm everything up, making the
wines feel leaner and nervier-a unanimously positive effect for the whites,
if less welcome with the reds. The Zalto's most outstanding effect may have
been encouraging us to drink more than we'd intended. Its ethereality
somehow translated into a lack of control when it came to getting the wine
into our mouths in delicate sips, or, as Hakli said, made her forget she was
even drinking.
Though we found no clear winner, we did reach some useful conclusions.
All of these glasses were bigger than you might find convenient if you have
a small cabinet to fit them in, or if you are setting bistro tables. However,
if you have the space and you drink a lot of white wine, or you're opening
a seafood restaurant and the majority of your list is whites, the Stölzle
Quadrophil or the Zalto all-purpose will show your wines beautifully from
just about every angle-aesthetics, performance, experience. If you're a
red-wine drinker, especially if you prefer American wines, or you're opening
a steakhouse, the Reidel Vinum will perform best, thanks to its generous
globe and wide aperture.
Inspired by this experiment, Rebecca Banks went home and tasted a
bottle of Sancerre out of her own collection of glassware, which included a
Zalto Bordeaux glass, a Ravenscroft Sauvignon Blanc/Chardonnay glass and
a glass she bought from a dollar store for a large party. Her conclusion: The
Sancerre showed nearly equally out of the Zalto and the Ravenscroft. The
dollar store glass, however, "might as well have been a jelly jar (which I've
also been known to drink out of)!" Haven't we all? n



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - April 2018

Contents
Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - 1
Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - 2
Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - 3
Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - 4
Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - 6
Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - 7
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