The other day I was reading through an un-named national wine publication and an article about the annoyance of "improper" glassware caught my attention and struck me funny, actually it struck me as very pompous. The author of the article proceeds to ridicule restaurants, friends, and acquaintances about the use of plastic, Styrofoam, stemless, tinted, heavy cut crystal, champagne, overly thick/thin, too big/small glasses.

I feel for this guy, the guy has a serious OCD hang-up about wine glasses and confesses to going through friends cabinets looking for a better vessel than a Styrofoam cup. Me on the other hand, I identify with one of the last scenes from the movie Sideways where Miles is pouring a wonderful aged wine into a paper fast food cup and sipping it clandestinely at some fast food joint; while expertly pairing it with some greasy fries and a cheeseburger the size of his head. There is something perversely pleasurable about that scene, after all isn’t it about the wine not the glass?

What struck me as utterly hilarious when I saw that scene in the movie was remembering an almost accidental trip to Diamond Creek Vineyards, a few years back. Aimee and I had called so see if we could grab a wine tasting slot and were informed that their annual winery celebration was in process and to simply bring a glass. Unfortunately we were half way up the mountain and almost to the winery. Lucky for Aimee she had the one (unbroken glass), I on the other hand had a rinsed, clean, wax coated 22 oz. Oakville Grocery cup that previously held Diet Coke. Guess who ended up with more wine, the pretty girl with the glass or the fat drunk guy with the paper cup? Yep, I imbibed approximately four (full) cupfuls of some of the best wine California produces.  Although I was not the only one with a non-glass container, I will never forget the wonderful graciousness of the winery.   They were simply thrilled that people loved their wine, not at all concerned with what you were drinking it out of.

My point is, I don’t remember ever seeing the words, "Warning - Serve only in Riedel Crystal” on the back of any bottle of wine.  In fact I have had more than one wine maker confess that they regularly pour wine right from a wine thief (barrel sampling tool) into their mouth, no glass required. This should put those handy little half bottles in a whole new light. I can see it now, your next party everyone gets their own 375ml bottle of cabernet that they can drink right from the bottle.

Provided the choice, yes, I would rather drink wine out of glass then another material (aside from a solid gold jewel encrusted chalice), would rather have the proper weight, color (clear), and would rather the glass have a bowl suited for the wine being consumed. Would George and Max Riedels glasses be at the top of my list?  A resounding yes. And if I had just one glassware wish it would be that every restaurant stock one, good, large bowl, general purpose, wine glass rather than three horribly designed ones, so that my restaurant wine, which costs twice as much as it should, can at least have the hope of presenting itself on the table as a wine rather than a margarita. I would still rather have wine in a margarita glass than no wine at all.

My biggest gripe with fine wine glassware is that most people simply don’t study a wine to the degree that those Austrian Riedel glasses permit.  Quality wine glassware is like putting an expensive frame on a picture, it simply presents itself better. Daily drinker and party wines simply don’t require the beauty or exacting analytic ability of a $15-$100 glass.  We simply want a nice wine while we eat dinner, socialize, and celebrate the survival of yet another day and on those occasions, any cup will do.

We Americans are just way to up tight about the whole wine thing. We feel compelled to be pretentious, to be considered educated in the fine art of consuming wine. In Europe whatever vessel is at hand is suitable for an everyday wine or even a more special bottle. In Spain, your basic highball glass is the wineglass of choice. Recently Riedel introduced the casual relaxed stemless glasses. Although we have sold them for over a year, we had not tried them until a visit to a friend’s house for a tour of their wine cellar. This casual glass was the perfect container for the stellar wines that were poured and the wonderful easy going evening that followed, including some delivered pizza. But don’t those stemless glasses warm the wine and aren’t they hard to hold? Actually the glasses spent most of their time on the counter, so warming the wine was not a factor and the glasses also seemed to be easier to hold, especially after the third bottle. Causal, fun, and easygoing, I think Max Riedels stemless glasses exemplify the essence of wine enjoyment.

For the host planning a casual get together, don’t sweat the glassware, use what you have and make no apologies about providing free food, wine and great company, just enjoy the party. Should you have any wine snobs present who requests a proper glass, attempts to go digging though your glassware cabinet, or sneer when you serve wine in a vessel dujour, ask them "are you so insecure with your wine knowledge that the vessel itself will impair your enjoyment of a great wine?” then laugh maniacally.

To hell with the vessel, just show me to the wine.