The Case for Varietal-Specific Wine Glasses

Riedel introduced the first varietal-specific wine glass in 1958, and the drinking world hasn’t been the same ever since. Even a neophyte oenophile must wonder: Am I shortchanging my modest cave if my cupboard isn’t stocked with universals, different glasses for red and white wines, a set of Champagne flutes and maybe some Burgundy, Bordeaux and Chardonnay glasses?

We spoke to experts in the wine industry to better understand what varietal-specific glassware actually does for the wines poured inside, if they’re necessary if you’ve already got a nice set of universal glasses and who, precisely, should be shelling out for three different types of red wine glasses.

Zalto’s varietal-specific wine glasses for Burgundy, Bordeaux and white wines (left to right). Wine Enthusiast

What Is a Varietal-Specific Glass and What Does it Do?

Before we get to the vagaries of that Viognier glass, let’s first establish the broad differences between varietal-specific glasses.

You might already be familiar with the most basic varietal-specific vessels: red and white wine glasses. But varietal-specific glassware isn’t just for wine. The category also includes Sherry copitas, Tequila glasses, Brandy snifters and more. Beer is another beverage that has style-specific glassware, from Pilsner mugs to tall and slender stanges for Kölsch. But varietal-specific wine glasses wind up being among the most common.

The idea behind varietal-specific glassware is that by focusing on the essential characteristics of a wine–its acidity, its tannins and how it smells or looks—and designing a glass to heighten those qualities, you get a better drinking experience.

The argument is that a single wine glass cannot at once concentrate the fresh, mineral aromas of a Muscadet and offer the kind of bowl space and rim diameter needed to allow a big Australian Shiraz to develop.

The Anatomy of a Varietal-Specific Wine Glass

Wine glass makers have a variety of design levers to pull as they close in on the ideal shape to show a particular varietal.

They’ll alter the glass’s silhouette, height and width of the bowl, the length of the stem and shape and proportion of the rim. Often, it’s a game of millimeters as they fine-tune glasses with an extra contour here and a bit more girth there.

A Pinot Noir glass may have a flared lip, a Champagne glass may be a classic flute to maximize the fizz or something closer to a white wine glass to express the aromatics. Or you may get the oddly lumpy cocoon-shaped glass, which looks like nothing so much as an elegant gent with incipient love handles.

The main conceit involves balancing aeration (meaning oxygen contacting the wine) and preservation (meaning retaining crisp aromas).

Designwise, glasses for red wines tend to be larger, with a bigger bowl and wider opening. These features help “bring the wine into contact with more oxygen, which can soften tannins and develop aromas,” says Druhv Singh, sommelier at Cowhorn Winery and Vineyard in Southern Oregon.

Glasses for white wines tend to have a smaller opening at the top, which concentrates aromas in the glass thereby enhancing them. They often have a longer stem, which offers more distance from the drinker’s hand to keep the temperature down. The less surface area of the wine that touches the air, the slower it warms up.

“These features allow each type of wine to present its best qualities, something a universal glass might not achieve as effectively,” Singh says.

For example, Ludovic Dervin, senior winemaker and general manager at Stags’ Leap Winery, in Napa Valley, likes to use a Riedel Veloce Chardonnay glass for their famed wine.

“Our Chardonnay has bright and crisp notes of fresh green apple, lemon, white peach and melon, and we want those characteristics to be on full display,” Dervin says. “If you select too large of a glass, you aren’t preserving the wine’s delicate aromas and flavors. Go for a smaller, narrower bowl that will allow the fresh, mineral characters to shine through.”

The rim of the glass also affects how wine tastes. That’s why the hand-blown Wine Enthusiast Aria Domaine Burgundy glass has a flared edge. This feature directs wine to the front of your palate, which some say helps us better taste its nuances.

Aria Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Burgundy glass — Wine Enthusiast

How to Choose and Use a Varietal-Specific Glass

Varietal-specific glassware isn’t as cut and dry as pouring white wines into one style of glass and reds into another. There’s an art to these pairings. The right glass for a specific wine has to do more with the qualities of the wine you’re drinking than how the glass is marketed.

To wit: a Burgundy glass is not just for wines from Burgundy. Here’s what the giants of craft glassware at Zalto suggest you drink from the Burgundy glass they sell: Pinot Noir, Blaufränkisch, Syrah and Nebbiolo (Barolo or Barbaresco) as well as Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Grüner Veltliner and Sauvignon Blanc.

This list reads surprisingly broad for a varietal-specific glass, no? Which introduces some understandable confusion in the wine-drinking public. Does every wine need to be sipped from a specific glass? What about my universals?

“The character of the wine should determine the shape, size and style of the glass,” says Emily Schindler, one of the owners of Winemonger, U.S. importer for Zalto Glassware.

She says that three Zalto glasses in the Denk’Art line are named for wine growing regions–Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne—but shouldn’t limit how you drink from them. The names signal that they are good for a general style, character and range of varietal, but the name of the glass should not determine which wine you pour into it, she adds.

According to Schindler, the Zalto Denk’Art Burgundy glass’s wide bowl exposes more surface area of the wine within it to air while the sharper angle of the sides traps the air and the aromas. “This is perfect for wines that are elegant, that have complexity in their expression, but are less extracted and tannic,” she says. “So the tighter ‘funnel’ focuses the subtlety that might otherwise get lost.”

The names you might encounter—such as the Cabernet Sauvignon Aria glass, Pinot Noir Aria glass and Burgundy Aria glass by Wine Enthusiast or the Cabernet Sauvignon Winewings glass by Riedel—are really shorthand.

Schindler notes that a restrained Syrah from the Northern Rhône is nothing like a full-bodied Australian Shiraz and so you wouldn’t serve them in the same glass even though they’re the same varietal. She wagers that a wine pro would select Zalto’s Burgundy glass for the more subtle French wine and its Bordeaux glass—which has a narrower bowl, steeper sides and wider rim—for the bigger Aussie.

The Bordeaux vs. Pinot Noir Glass

Two of the common varietal-specific glasses you might encounter are Bordeauxs and Pinot Noirs.

Mariano Garay, wine director at the New York restaurant Corima, says, “Bordeaux grapes are higher in tannins so they benefit from a broader bowl with a tulip rim, while Pinot Noir, being more delicate and higher in acidity, doesn’t need as much oxygen but rather more of a narrow rim to help you distinguish the complex aromas and flavors.”

We should note that Bordeaux glasses can be pressed into service for a variety of varietals, showing other reds as diverse as Brunello, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Rioja, Merlot, Shiraz and the Cabs (Franc and Sauvignon).

“The Bordeaux glass, often larger and taller, brings the wine into contact with more oxygen, which can soften tannins and develop aromas,” Singh says. “These features are ideal for the robust structure and body of Bordeaux wines.”

As for the Pinot Noir glass, Jon Priest, senior winemaker and general manager at Etude Winery in Carneros, California says that you want a glass that captures the “delicate aromas and balances the acidity, with a wider bowl that provides enough space for the wine to breathe.”

Great! But Do I Really Need all These Glasses?

Do you need six different types of wine glass? Do you need ten pairs of sneakers? How you answer that second question probably determines how you’ll answer the first (and yes, between running, tennis, casual, flashy, neutral and mowing the lawn, I need ten at the barest minimum).

“The drinker who might benefit from having a variety of glasses is someone who loves exploring the nuances of different wines and wants to experience them at their best,” says Singh. “I encourage everyone to stay curious and open to all the possibilities; the best experience may yet be to come.”

Matt Lynn, head sommelier at Joji, a high-end New York omakase restaurant, concurs—to a point.

“For truly exceptional bottles, I make the effort to use a varietal-specific glass. But for the vast majority of my personal use, I’m a proponent of universal glasses.”

For Lynn, the wine is the end point, and the glass can only take him so far. Worse yet is the specter of the “rules” that can trip up even the most knowledgeable drinkers. “Ultimately, I avoid fixating on whether a glass is right or wrong,” he says. “The focus should be on the wine—not the glass it’s served in.”