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Riedel_Wine_glass_Shape_Matters
11 Dec
0

Paper Plates and Stemware: The Dish on Taste and Why Wine Glasses Matter

Posted by Cranberry Liquors Featured, Tasting Wine, Uncategorized No Comments

I was watching a television program the other day, and suddenly it hit me: I realized why my dad abhores/loathes/HATES eating off of paper plates.

It didn’t matter if we were eating hot dogs. Paper plates might have been asking for a fight. What does this have to do with drinking wine? Everything.

wine-glass-shape-study

Stemware: It's not (just) a marketing ploy...

Remember in the last post how I linked to a wicked neat video about how wine glasses actually affect the way you taste the wine in your glass?

Evidence of this isn’t just on Youtube. One of our loyal and lovely patrons actually had this exact conversation with the paper plate hater.  Our customer, “M.D.” was also a skeptic: Was it all a ruse? How could one wine glass be that different from another?

 

However, M.D. set about visiting Pinot Noir-ville in Oregon. At a vineyard, a sommelier served him one of their more popular wines.

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What's In Your Glass?

 It was okay, M.D. thought. He was then served another wine to taste, another pinot noir, in fact. This time, however, the wine was “phenomenally better.”

It was the same damn bottle of wine. Round two of the same pinot noir was markedly better because according to the server, the wine was served in it’s proper vessel.

Pinot noir is a great wine to experiment with the “Does Shape Matter” question… Because it is fairly high in alcohol content, is best served and understood apart from any food pairing, and is normally considered an aperitif (pre-food, not a dinner companion.)

So what gives? As that Youtube video didn’t come with captions, I’ll give you the sum-up on what is going on in that Snapchat rainbow, acid trip in-a-wine-glass fast-motion video .

In glass A (the one on our left) the wine is in the WRONG glass shape for it’s varietal. Let’s pretend it is a Pinot Noir. In glass B (the one on our right) the glass is the proper Pinot Noir ware.

What is happening with the colors is actually temperature and alcohol related.

In glass A, the wine is in the “wrong” glass at the “wrong” temperature. 

In glass B, the wine’s viscosity, temperature and alcohol % are all comfortable in it’s little glass home. The result of this? When your nose meets the fragrance of this wine, the “nose” of this wine will smell the way the Pinot Noir makers intended it to be.

This, my friends, is the TL;DR of this post: The glassware one uses makes a major difference in the way the “nose” of the glass is presented. If you use the “correct glass” (or, not a coffee mug) the wine will hit your senses the way the winemakers intended.

This means the way the alcohol is dispersed through the glass, the way in which the bouquet of the glass meets the lowest 1/3rd quadrant of your face… the way the little wrist-flick, swirly action that people with their pinkies out do – It’s going to taste the way it’s supposed to, dammit.

But remember people – there are no rules!

Wait… what?

I just wrote two contradictory things. And I did this on purpose. Why? Simply put, some people like pink moscato with a straw and three ice cubes. Some people like to drink their Josh Cabernet at the proper temperature, paired with steak.

Some people like to buy their white wine chilled to temperature, and some people like to add soda (*shudder*) to their “diy sauvignon spritzer.”

riedel-glasses-proper-glass

While Supplies Last: Cranberry Liquors can order Riedel stemware and have it to you before the Christmas .

We can even help you pick out which you need! Call us or stop by – P.S. We can get a better price than regular people – Cranberry Liquors is a store, and believe it or not, Wholesalers take us seriously! P.P.S We mean it about the “while supplies last thing,” and we hate letting people down because of time constraints.

So, what am I saying here?

(Note: We don’t work for Riedel Sternware, nor do we get free cruises, or any incentive for prescribing the right glassware for your wine consumption needs. We are not your doctor, and we don’t want you to ask your doctor if Riedel Glassware is right for you.)

With that out of the way, Cranberry Liquors, The Paper Plate Hater and this writer would like to suggest this: M.D. thought, like I did, like most do, that having a vast assortment of wine glasses, martini stemware, champagne flutes… who cares?! We can stick our pinky out, we don’t look like college kids drinking out of Solo cups, and we aren’t hitting the bottle like a flask – WHO CARES?!

Answer: The people who spent all year tending to a crop of grapes.

And if there is one company who has done your homework for you, it’s Riedel (no, not the plumbing and heating company…)

Beyond the science of a youtube video, Riedel stemware gets into the history of wine glasses- which is actually pretty fascinating – from the architecture of the stem to bowl ratio, to the way in which their research has evolved with science, Riedel will make you smart about wine. If there is one website on the internet that will make you smarter about wine, it’s Cranberry Liquors: Http://spiritofharwichport.com .

If there are two websites on the internet that will make you a sommelier dueling ninja, they are Cranberry Liquors and Riedel – the wine glass company. 

Having done a ton of research on Riedel, as well as memorizing their website, might I be so bold as to suggest my favorite, most informative (IMHO) page?  Click here

Remember that Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand you paired so painstakingly with that fish entree you slaved over  for your soon to be in-laws? You asked the guy at the counter. He up-sold you on some chi-chi label with a koala. The grapes had grown planted beside lavender or eucalyptus such that trace notes of floral or menthol were included in the white wine’s “finish” (believe it or not, these are truths about vineyards and they actually change the wine’s make up.

The winemakers of this world, the legit ones, whose vintage matters almost as much, if not more so than the gauche label with the sad-eyed Koala and the “Taste the Rainbow Save the Rainforest” label. Those are who care. This is why your glass matters.

So, what does this have to do with paper plates? Similarly to drinking out of the right glass, eating off of a paper plate… Thankfully, someone else wrote that article, expounding upon atmosphere, feeling full, eating the same thing but tasting it totally differently because of plate color…

In fact, I can sum it up for you… Have you ever scraped styrofoam with a metal fork before?

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thanksgiving_floats_night_before_parade
20 Nov
0

A Toast to All Things…

Posted by Cranberry Liquors About Us, Around Town, Featured, Tasting Wine, Wines for Occasion 1 Comment
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Toast to That!

It’s that time of year. Yes, that time. Not that time at the beginning of November (TG that’s over) but that time in late November, with the preparation and consumption of old school food, often kicking off Christmas, Chanukah, and New Year-esque holidays.

This time of year is especially cool if you live in NYC, by the way. One of the coolest, most eerie things I’ve ever seen was (more…)

Read More
our_daily_red_wine_Zin
26 Oct
0

New Organic Wine Beer and Liquor

Posted by Cranberry Liquors Drinking Beer, Featured, Organic, Seasonal Beer, Tasting Wine, Uncategorized No Comments

Cranberry Liquors is featuring our newest organic wines, beers and liquors. Our 2016 best organic wines, best organic beers and ciders, even organic liquors!

C.Liquors Has A New Feature and it rhymes with Volcanic
From Our Daily wines to organic gins and vodkas, Cranberry Liquors has made an investment in our organic product selection.

When discussing why C. Liquors has a new featured section, Joe Della Morte (Proprietor) had this to say:

We made an investment in our organic wine selection. Just like we saw this summer, there is a clear “need” for organic wines. We have our regular customers, and we always have room on the shelf for what they are looking for.

C.Liquors Has A New Feature and it rhymes with Volcanic

So let’s start with what’s NEW!

Natura – Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon natura_Organic_malbec

Natura wines are made by the creator Banfi – If you’ve never heard of Banfi, then you’ve been under a rock.

In all seriousness, Banfi is a pretty massive umbrella in the wine world, carrying many, many of your favorite wines (like Banfi for instance, Pacific Rim, Entree and Placid…)

But Natura is a pretty neat vineyard. Their compost is comprised of “spent skins and stems” (because organic wine needs to use compost or… well I’ll let you Google it.) Besides that, instead of using pesticides, they have implemented insect killing pests. They replenish their soil with flowers so the minerals do not overly deplete. The Cab and Zin are both made in Chile, and both have excellent reviews. Click here for more info and reviews on Natura’s Cabernet and then their Malbec. Both are Gold Medal Winners of the Sommelier Challenge, and tasting notes and reviews acclaim them wildly.

Another new product is Our Daily White and their Zinfandel – We’ve carried Our Daily Red (a red blend) for over 7 years, and it has undoubtedly sold better than any other organic red wine. Not until recently, however, has Our Daily expanded their products to Chardonnay, Zin and their economically sized boxed wine. Tasting notes and other information about Our Daily is here: The gist is this: 100% certifiably crazy organic and vegan.

Our Daily is also sulfite free (besides the Chardonnay,which has some,) and they trump their competition once again: Our Daily is vegan to boot!

We have many other organic wines, but the lesser known (or less proclaimed to be organic) wines include King Estate’s Pinot Gris – an excellent medium bodied white, and best seller from Oregon.

Tres_Fili_Pinot_Grigio

Tasting notes (from http://kingestate.com) –

In the 2014 vintage, pineapple, nectarine, violets and lime zest collide with honeysuckle, cantaloupe, and minerals. A flowing harmony of fresh acid and a delicate sweetness carries the fruit and minerals through a generous finish.

Not unlike their Pinot Gris, King Estate’s Pinot Noir is equally organic, equally popular, and just as reasonably priced.

Italian

On to Italy!

Tres Fili – Another super popular white. This Italian Pinot Grigio, made with organically grown grapes,  is a top seller at Cranberry Liquors. Since June of this year, if not earlier, King Estate’s Pinot Gris comes highly recommended by the staff at Cranberry Liquors, and many of our loyal patrons.

Finally, for the sparkle lovers, we have Fascino, an Italian Prosecco. We get this prosecco from Monsieur Touton, and like all of the product we get from this vendor, it is remarkably good for its price, consistently good (and just plain consistent!) each season. We will only continue to sell more of the Fachino, as we do with all of our best wines – sparkly or otherwise.

Stay tuned in to this post!

Also, feel free to leave your comments! We say stay tuned because later this week, we’ll be turning you on to some well priced, lesser known organic BEERS and liquors – all because we love you, our customers.

Banfi’s Natura Wine Reviews 

Natura – Malbec Review

  • Coming Up Next

From Our Daily wines to organic gins and vodkas, Cranberry Liquors has made an investment in our organic product selection.

When discussing why C. Liquors has a new featured section, Joe Della Morte (Proprietor) had this to say:

We made an investment in our organic wine selection. Just like we saw this summer, there is a clear “need” for organic wines. We have our regular customers, and we always have room on the shelf for what they are looking for.

Coming Up Next

Organic Beer and Liquor!
samuel-smith_Organic_Beer
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