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John Nugent and his wife are the proprietors of Colorado Wine Company in Eagle Rock (2114 Colorado Boulevard). He stops by from time to time to give la.foodblogging readers a taste of the wine business, from the inside. This is not an advertisement and no promotional fee or arrangement has been made between Colorado Wine Co. and la.foodblogging

Does the shape of the wine glass really matter? Aren’t I drinking the same wine whether it’s out of a $40 crystal glass the size of a small bear or a plastic juice cup? Technically, yes. But also, yes, it does matter. Not as much as you’ve probably heard, but it still makes a difference. It’s mostly about the smell which is technically 80% of taste, so if you can’t get a full whiff of that grape juice, you’re missing something. And why miss it when you’ve paid good money for it? One good rule of thumb is that the top rim of the glass should always be smaller than the bowl. This keeps the aromas in the glass above the wine rather than letting them waft away into the air. There are dozens of other debates and arguments I could pose but let’s just get to the heart of the matter.

Different parts of the tongue are sensitive to different taste sensations and famed Austrian wineglass maker, Riedel, claims that, after years of trial and error, they have figured out how to best guide specific wines across your palate. For instance, because red Burgundies tend to be acidic and acidity can sometimes overwhelm the fruit, they crafted a glass that supposedly steers the wine away from the sides of the tongue, where acidity is detected, and directs it toward the middle, where the wine can better strut its stuff. That’s fine and all, but come on, it’s still just wine. The Ikea all-around wine glasses do the trick pretty well and you don’t have to fret when you break one. And as far as the stemmed versus stemless controversy (we carry stemless Riedel at the store), if you’re wine tasting in a competition, no you shouldn’t use stemless because your hands on the glass will warm up the wine too much. If you’re having a casual dinner or sipping some wine at home, I would venture a guess that there is no way you’re going to detect (or care) that your wine has changed 1 degree.

So, to sum up, skip the juice glass, but don’t overcomplicate a good thing.