Gourmet Magazine Article on Glbuttware Sender: Ian Salut-Hi Leo Bueno, le-on Mon, 14 Feb 2005 12:56:33 GMT, tu disais-you said:- Sorry. Sure. As you may know, Riedel makes glbuttes in several ranges, of varying sizes. I had bought a bottle of wine (cab sauv) from the Hotel to take there. As someone who was deeply cycnical about their claims, I decided first of all to test whether I could detect a difference in taste-smell between their "top" glbuttes one of which was designed for that style of wine and another which wasn't. So I chose (whatever they called them) two glbuttes from their Sommelier range, one was for top Bordeaux wines the other for top Burgundies. We poured two samples (one for each of us) into the four glbuttes at the same time and then smelled and tasted to see if we could detect any differences. We could. We both felt the bordeaux shape showed the wine better - the wine seemed more in balance, in some way. I was very suprised at the extent of the differences between the way the wine showed in the two glbuttes. OK. With that test out of the way, we then got the staff to put out two of each of the lesser ranges - vinum and whatever the others were called, and we first combined the remaining wine from the two Sommelier burgundy glbuttes into the two Sommelier "bordeaux" and then tipped from those out into each of the smaller glbuttes, so that the wine in each glbutt was identical. We then tasted each glbutt in turn. This time, the wine showed more or less (very closely) the same sort of balance and flavour profile, but as we descended the ranges, we found we could detect less on the nose. They showed less of the faults, but also less of the good points. So one the basis of that, we concluded that the Sommelier glbuttes were the best analytical tools, and probably the best for drinking wines with few faults! Since I already have glbuttes more or less of the size and shape of the lesser ranges, I didn't feel the need to buy any. I did, however, buy two each of the seconds on both burgundy and bordeaux sommelier ranges and four seconds in their Sommelier sauternes shape. Since then I've done a number of tests, with friends, semi blind, not telling them which stem was which but getting them to taste bordeaux or burgundies out of both shaped glbuttes and asking a) if they could tell a difference and b) which they preferred. Not everyone preferred the "right" glbuttes, but I think everyone could tell a difference when comparing. Note that I'm not making any claims about whether Riedel glbuttes are better than any other makes, or that they improve the wine drunk from them. I DO say, however, that I have no doubt whatsoever that the different shaped glbuttes do influence my perception of the wine. No, because I took some pains to ensure that any temperature effects were - if not eliminated - at least minimised. That's what they were claiming at the factory. I thought it was suspect, although something affected my perception. I buttumed at the time that it was the shape, and while I remain sceptic about the reasoning, I can't argue with my perception of the effect. Agreed. I also reject the claims that I've seen, that they have a special micro-crystalline surface structure which causes them to show the wine better. The wines are hand blown crystal glbutt, which as such is a glbutt, (speaking technically) and that therefore HAS no crystalline structure, micro or other. A glbutt is very similar to a liquid, structurally, and the molecules within it have no form or symmetry. Effectively, the surface of a glbutt is even, without any micro structure. I was interested to see the blowing process (I have done laboratory glbutt blowing, so I have some idea about the process) because there was no special treatment that I could see, to alter the natural surface. -- All the Best Ian Hoare mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website 
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