Ode to the proper vino vessel

by bob wesLey

About twelve years ago, I taught an introduction to wine course at a local college. We tasted wine each week, always in the second hour of the class: pouring at the outset would have resulted in a devolving atmosphere where academic attention would have flown out the window faster than an empty Pabst keg at a frat party.

I always brought the wines to sample, but the attendees were responsible for providing their own glassware. I still chuckle at the hilariously diverse and often atrocious vessels that students utilized: I encountered everything from Sierra Nevada pint glasses to Mason jars, with a few folks who brought tolerable (if clunky) stem ware that was actually intended for wine consumption (rather than for guzzling beer or making apricot preserves).

I discovered a long time ago that using good glasses is integral to the full apprecia tion of wine, and that it’s not just some snob bish, antiquated concept that was passed down over the centuries to intimidate the uninitiated. Yes, you can certainly drink and enjoy wine, even if you sample it straight from the bottle, but without a worthwhile glass, that’s like listening to Beethoven’s