Collegiate Times

Pour a wine of your choosing into a variety of glasses from your cupboard.

For example, try two very different wine glasses, a tumbler or water glass, a short juice glass, and a shot glass. First, note that the same wine probably doesn't even smell the same in the various glasses. Then, taste the wine in each glass. If you didn't pour the wine yourself, you might think someone had poured you more than one kind of wine from the wine glasses down to the shot glass.

It seems like a fisherman's tale until you try it; and when you're at the store, standing in front of a wall of stemware, it seems like nothing more than a marketing scheme -- but it's true. The bouquet (smell), taste, balance of components and finish (how long the taste lasts in your mouth) of a wine are all a result of the stemware from which you drink.

Regardless of the shape, your stemware should be plain, colorless, thin-lipped, tulip-shaped and made of glass or crystal. A tulip-shape means that the glass tapers back in at the lip, which concentrates the wine's aroma and, coupled with a thin lip, helps to bring out the wine's most desirable flavors. A thick rim or tapered edge brings out the acidity and bitterness of the wine, which is part of why wine doesn't taste as good in something like a shot glass.

But without spending all your money on the glasses (and then probably settling for cheap wine), you can collect a respectable cache of stemware without buying a different set for every possible occasion. One or two sets of red wine glasses, a set for white wine, and a set of champagne flutes will take you a long way.

Burgundy glass

The largest glasses in your stemware collection, Burgundy glasses are tall, similar to Bordeaux glasses, but with an even wider bowl. They are designed to give subtle wines such as pinot noir a large area in which to gather their aromas, and the shape helps to direct the wine to the tip of your tongue.

White wine

White wine glasses are smaller and narrower than red wine glasses for two main reasons: The smaller surface area prevents the chilled wine from warming quickly to room temperature as it would in the wide bowl of a red wine glass, and because white wines do not need to breathe the way red wines do. The sides of white wine glasses are straighter than red wine glasses, though not as straight and narrow as champagne flutes.

Stemless

While stemware should usually have a stem to avoid fingerprints clouding the glass and body heat warming the wine, stemless tumblers have become a popular alternative to traditional stemware. They will work with red wines (since they should be served warm), but won't work well for white wines or champagne.

Decanters

Wine can be transferred or decanted to another container called a decanter before serving it, and doing so does two things. First, it separates older wine from its sediment, which if left mixed in can impart a noticeable bitterness. Second, pouring relatively young wine into another container causes it to mix with oxygen, which breathes life into the wine. Using a decanter can help improve the complexity of a wine and should be done a few hours before serving a younger wine and immediately before serving an older wine.

Bordeaux glass

Tall with a wide bowl, Bordeaux glasses are designed for rich, full-bodied wines, such as cabernet and merlot. The shape directs the wine to the back of the mouth, and the wide bowl allows the wine to breathe, though to a lesser extent than a Burgundy glass. However, if you plan to buy only one, this is probably the better glass to start with.