289102 Sat Apr 27 09:44:28 -0700 2002 9 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1563461 Came home to find an enormous box from Amazon..my 2 Riedel Samplers..Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc glasses. I bought these on a whim, learned about from this site...and was honestly thinking the whole Riedel glass thing was nonsense. For those that don't know, the principle is that the different shaped glasses will make the particular wine that it was designed for taste better. I had to do a taste test for myself...I had a bottle of cheap chardonnay (Woodbridge) that my friend was drinking out of a regular wine glass...we tasted it in both glasses and the wine was far better in the Reidel glass..not only the taste but the smell of the wine was much fuller..I know taste and smell are related, part of the same experience. Not satisfied yet, I opened a bottle of Cabernet..a Hess Select, had to try the Bordeaux glass...again the difference in taste was remarkable..much fuller with the Riedel. Now if the proper glass will makle a particular wine taste better, would the "wrong" glass make a wine taste worse? I had to find out..We tasted the Chardonnay in the plain wine glass, the Chardonnay glass and the Bordeaux glass...again the difference was noticeable..ranked in order of preference by both of us..Chardonnay, Bordeaux, plain glass. Hopefully my headache will go away and I'll sample the Burgundy and Sauvignon Blanc glasses tonight. Now if Riedel can develop a glass for Diet Dr Pepper, my daytime beverage, I'll have it made. Thanks to Chowhound for providing the Amazon recommendation. Sat Apr 27 09:44:28 -0700 2002 0 9lives 1 1563462 Hey! Don't ya know you're supposed to spit when you're tasting? LOL. Sat Apr 27 09:48:29 -0700 2002 1563461 0 wrayb 1 1563468 LOL ! I have heard this before. Glad to know it seems to work. I have all I can do to wash the wine glass out that I used last night before using it again. Does this mean we should take out own glasses with us when we eat out ?. Sat Apr 27 13:36:48 -0700 2002 1563461 0 DavidH 2 1563474 It's a slippery slope you're on, and there's no going back... Sat Apr 27 15:00:13 -0700 2002 1563468 0 ironmom 1 1563496 A friend of mine who is a certified wine geek (as am I) gave me for my wedding a couple each of the mouth-blown bordeaux and burgundy glasses (the "sommelier" series). These suckers are humongous, and cost about $50 bucks each. And, damn, as hard as I tried to conclude that it was a waste of money, the wine tasted even better in these than it does in my "ordinary" machine-made Reidel. But, here's a cost-saving tip. There's a company called Speiglau, that makes glasses essentially equal to Reidel, and is substantially cheaper (and sturdier). Most of the restaurants use these, because they cost less and are harder to break. Sat Apr 27 22:51:21 -0700 2002 1563461 0 Tom M. 2 1563505 I bought an assortment of Speiglau a couple of months ago and am very happy with them. Sun Apr 28 02:04:48 -0700 2002 1563496 0 Wendy Leonard 2 1563634 Check out Speiglau glasses on Amazon. I just ordered 6 Burgundy "big boys" for about $32.00 - great price! I have 4 others and have loved them for 6-7 years or so. Mon Apr 29 18:58:07 -0700 2002 1563496 0 Hunter 3 1563642 Hi Hunter, the closest I could find to what you describe is the Vino grande burgundy glass at 36.29 for six. Is that what you bought? Mon Apr 29 19:12:00 -0700 2002 1563634 0 Pat Hammond 4 1563658 That sounds like them, esp. if the price is around $5-6 per glass. That's not really a big sale, though, more like the average price. But good value nonetheless. In terms of quality, my experience is that the Speiglau glasses do just as much for the wine as Reidel. The Reidels are just very slightly more elegant. Mon Apr 29 21:17:29 -0700 2002 1563642 0 Tom M. 4 1563776 Sorry Pat, looks like the ones I bought are gone. But the $36 ones are just as good and contrary to the post after yours, I do think they're a great value depending on the availability of the glasses in your city. I bought my original ones in Orlando where they were quite a bit more expensive. Concerning the comparison to Reidel, I agree the Spiegs do the same for wine but I like them for another reason - a LOT sturdier!! Tue Apr 30 16:43:56 -0700 2002 1563642 0 Hunter