Interesting Insight Not many people pay attention to the glass that holds their drinks. And those who do, they know that the shape and size of a glass could bring a lot of difference to taste of the drink. This is especially true in case of wine, says, Celia Cheng. Intelligence of Wine Glass Celia Cheng

As per Chinese wisdom, whenever you want to get something done with the best result, you have to adopt the most effective tool for your target. This is absolutely right to our topic this month – Intelligence of Wine Glass! Actually, most wine lovers and sophisticated drinkers put their focus on wine tasting and great wine selections from the very beginning till they understand and experience wine as time goes by. However, they easily miss out the importance of choosing wine glasses which is a very crucial element for enjoyment of wine.

Remarkable marriage of “elegance, functionality and durability”
It’s a known phenomenon that people are generally interested in colour, bouquet, taste and hardly about wine glasses which is a crucial instrument that conveys message of wine. I got an opportunity to interview Gigi Wong, Catering Division Manager of Inhesion Industrial Company, Limited, the sole Agent & Distributor for China, Hong Kong & Macau. It was fantastic learning about viewpoints, wine glass and professional knowledge indeed.

Gigi shared with me the long standing history behind the world-famous wine glass company “Spiegelau” which was well established since 1521. Moreover, Spiegelau is owned by Riedel Glass Work, the one that is well-known by wine lovers all over the world. Over five centuries of hand craftsmanship and innovative modern glass making technologies, Spiegelau specializes to produce superb glasses for wine lovers. The company is proud of high performance of wine glass production in remarkable marriage of “elegance, functionality and durability”.

Handmade & Machinery Glass:
How many of us are really aware about handmade glass and machinery glass? Gigi said it only takes 45 minutes to produce a brilliant handmade glass by traditional method of “mouth blown” including four to five craftsmen as a team. Professional craftsman have over ten years of skills and techniques in mouth blown. In case of machinery made, 30-40 pieces of glass can be strictly produced at the same time.

Technological innovation and its implementation help produce high quality wine glass. Apart from the handmade glass, the outstanding machinery glasses are also getting more popular among wine and food industries and wine lovers in terms of high performance and competitive prices.

Intelligence of Wine Glass:
It is time to go into the details of wine glass. So what is intelligence of wine glass, how about a relaxing lesson then? First of all, we are talking about the size of wine glass. The size of a glass is very important which affects quality and intensity and aroma of wine. To be direct, this is breathing space for the wine. In simple principle, red wines require large glass, white wine


Shape of a glass influences bouquet and taste of wine. Hence, design of wine glass is actually made to fit character of various types of wines require medium sized glass, champagne emphasizes fruit character, elegance of bubbles rather than purely alcohol so its served in a flute glass.

Secondly, shape of a glass influences bouquet and taste of wine. Hence, design of wine glass is actually made to fit character of various types of wines. Let’s have some typical examples, Burgundy wine glass is generous pear-shaped bowl allows more mature, high quality, low-tannin aromatic wines to breathe openly, allowing the drinker to appreciate the nuanced differences among more complex aromatic red wines. On the other hand, Bordeaux wine glass is ideal for large complex wines; special shape of elegant full-sized bowl reveals rich aromas of full highly tannic red wine. White wine small is great to enjoy fresh and light wine.

Elegant shape is well suited for light and medium bodied white wines and light-bodied red wines. When we talk about sparkling wine, Champagne Flute is definitely designed and functioned to highlight delicate aromas and subtle flavours of champagne. The narrow flute shaped bowl captures the pearl-like bubbles, revealing their delicate notes as they explore wine surface.

Don’t forget great Decanter!
It was interesting to ask Gigi about the number of wine glasses that she has at home, to which, she smiled and said interestingly. “This is a popular question asked by friends always. Well, there are one dozen of wine glasses in kitchen shelf. It is quite common in countries overseas for dining and parties at home. Certainly, a perfect enjoyment to great wine is hidden in the outstanding glass, its shape, transparency, elegance and craftsmanship etc…” While concluding Gigi made a friendly reminder to great decanter! She said, “To decant wines is a sign of respect for old wines and a sign of confidence in young wines.

Decanting young wines, just a few moments before it’s served helps to ensure the wines clarity and brilliance. On the contrary, decanting old wines take several hours to bloom and attain stage of development that normally requires years of aging.” Now, looking at my kitchen cabinet, I think it is time to select some quality wine glasses. What I have to choosehandmade glasses or machinery made, well, that’s still an interesting question. So, what is your intelligent quotient then?

(Special thanks: Gigi Wong, Catering Division Manager, Inhesion Industrial Co., Ltd. Sole Agent & Distributor for China,Hong Kong & Macau)
 

Courtesy:  http://www.ambrosiaindia.com