ThePortForum.com

What type of glass are you using for drinking port.

The official glas from Portugal or big redwine glasses or ?????

My friends and I are always using BIG glasses (tulip style) for portwine.

I've yet to 'Riedeled' into believing a certain glass shape is 'correct' for any given wine.

If I want to be modest in my intake, I use a standard port glass, otherwise I deploy a tulip for everything.

However, I am not against the use of Riedel products, and find the thin wall of their standard red wine glass to be far more agreeable when compared with the thick walled soda glass wine glasses commonly found in pubs.

Tom

I use several. In order of preference:

1. Riedel Vinum Port glass
2. Schott Zwiesel square-stem IVdP Port tasting glass, or the older non-S.Z. glass of the same design
3. the older round-stem IVdP Port tasting glass
4. the ISO 3591 standard tasting glass
5. a white wine glass

I believe that I can tell a difference between the first three and a white wine glass. Port, to me, tastes a bit flat coming out of a wine glass. I've never seen #3 and #4 side-by-side, so they may in fact be the same glass.

My preference for the Riedel Vinum Port glass is based more on the feel than its effect on the Port. The Riedel glasses are just very nice to hold. They look and feel elegant, which in turn improves my perception of the Port. I'm sure it is psychological, but it happens.

I now have a Riedel Sommelier Vintage Port glass (from my parents)... we'll see if it's actually any better than the Vinum series or if it's just more expensive.

I use either the Schott Zwiesel IVDP glass or the Schott Zwiesel port glass from the Diva series.

Schott Zwiesel square-stem IVdP Port tasting glass. A small glass also makes me drink less which isn't too bad as it's easy to drink too much port.

Riedel Vinum Port glass is my preference followed by whatever style of glass happens to contain the port I am offered to drink

These should help
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Glasses, continued
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1631

I use a white wine glass typically. It makes me crazy when restaurants or some people pull out these little glass "thimbles" for port. I don't know anyone that only drinks about 2 ounces of port, and you certainly can't swirl the wine it them.

If a restaurant tries to serve you Port in a cordial glass, return it and ask for it to be served in a white wine glass. (They obviously don't have Port glasses, so no point in asking.)

I've reached the point that if I'm going to order Port at a restaurant, I ask what kind of glass it is served in. If the waiter describes a cordial, I ask for the white wine glass ahead of time. One nice side effect is that doing so often gets you a better pour as well!

When I drink from my own glass, 90% of the time it is a Riedel Vinum port glass. I like the shape and the feel of the glass in my hand and it seems to hold about the right amount of port for a reasonable pour - works out to be about 1/8th of a bottle. When not using the Vinum it tends to be a Riedel.

Tom mentions that he has not been "Riedeled", perhaps this is an idea for a future tasting theme. I was lucky enough to attend a tasting organised by Georg Riedel where he served four different wines out of each of 8 different glasses, one of each glass being the one that he designed for that particular wine. He didn't tell us which glass was for which wine until we had voted on the one which we thought was the best - and the one he designed was the one we chose. I was convinced and went out and bought sets of his glasses. I now use Riedel glasses almost all the time although I am sure that other manufacturers also make glasses which are just as good.

I can also echo Glen's comment - I often ask what type of glass a restaurant uses for their port. When they show me a typical port thimble, I ask for the port to be brought in a red wine glass. Often, the glass comes with more port in it than a thimble would hold.

Alex