This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
A few weeks ago we launched ‘En tu bodega y en la mía’ (‘In your cellar and mine’) on our Bodegas Arzuaga Instagram profile. With this initiative, we’re doing a series of live chats where Ignacio Arzuaga, managing director of Bodegas Arzuaga, talks with well-regarded members of the industry about different aspects dealing with wine. The instalment that kicked off this initiative featured Jordi Segura, manager of Euroselecció, which, among other things, is the company responsible for importing Riedel products to Spain.
Jordi is, surely, one of the people in Spain who knows most about types of glasses, their characteristics and how important they are when it comes to enjoying a good wine even more. Because ‘not all glasses are good for all wines; some manage to bring out the virtues,’ points out Ignacio Arzuaga at the beginning of the chat. To better understand the importance of choosing the right glass, Segura gave a very illustrative example: ‘When we hear a song we like, the equipment has a big influence. If it’s high fidelity it seems like we’re live, we feel the vibration, the instruments… it’s amazing. But if we listen to it on a phone, even though we may like it, it’s not the same at all. This example also goes for glasses. Using one or another is like adjusting the bass, mid and treble, although swapping it for acidity, sweetness and bitterness,’ he affirmed.
So much so that Riedel’s offer is precise down to the point of offering the most appropriate glasses according to the variety used to make the wine. ‘How can you tell?’, Jordi was asked during the live chat. He explained that to find, for example, the most appropriate glass for the Tempranillo variety, they chose a single-variety wine that ‘was tested at nose and palate level in 14 or 18 different shapes, also using the same wine’. A group of more than 1,000 people made up of sommeliers, winemakers, journalists and final customers tasted using the different glasses, eliminating the ones they didn’t like. So, there’s no specific formula? ‘Riedel’s maxim says that the content determines the shape,’ Segura explained.
Design, aesthetics, ideal glass types for Ribera del Duero, glass diameter, tastings in different formats… We invite you to check out our YouTube channel to discover all the topics Jordi and Ignacio addressed in an hour of interesting chat that we’re sure you’ll learn something from. To conclude, we’ll finish with a thought from Segura that we share too: ‘we’re at a time when we have a golden opportunity to get people to fall in love and get into the world of wine’. Cheers!