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"I drink $15-$20 wine most of the time, so I spend $60-$80 on a set of four glasses"

oh man this is not serious.

Deb,

As much as I'm for nice wine glasses, there is no way the thickness of the edge changes the taste of a wine - it's just not how taste works. The acidic taste of the wine is a property of the wine, not the glass.

I must respectfully disagree. Keeping in mind that wine is very much clouded (metaphorically and sometimes literally) by affect, I see nothing in the post to indicate why plastic might be worse. I only see that the writer found it objectionable herself. Some drinkers might enjoy more acidity, "alcoholic"-ness, or "rough"ness-- often a result of the wider mouth of a plastic cup. With food, this might occasionally even be preferred. Further, it might introduce the drinker (drinking being the principal thing meant to be done with wine in real life, not tasting, though the latter is clearly part of the former) to different qualities of a wine they thought they knew.

In real-life situations-- summer bbq's, dinner parties, outdoor concerts, etc.-- the wine has already been subject to any number of conditions: how the wine got to its destination, how long the bottle's been open, what food is (or isn't) being eaten, what/how much wine has already been drank... even whether or not the wine is corked! (Yes, apart from a self-selecting few, we all have drank corked wine whether we realized it or not-- and sometimes enjoyed it). Any of these variables and others will affect what the wine ultimately gets poured into-- sometimes dwarfing the importance of the vessel, worsening it, improving upon it, but most importantly bringing new experiences to light.

i am only down for using plastic cups for drinking keg beer.
i don't know about all the other fancypants stuff mentioned above, but yeah-the idea of guzzling wine outta plastic is a lil nauseating.

Sangria tastes fine in a plastic cup.

Not one comment about drinking out of plastic cups that will sit in landfills for hundreds of years?

I'd just add that "rough" and "alcoholic" are "deeply personal" adjectives, which for someone else (me obviously :)) might mean "mineraly" and "downright tasty." I'd choose plastic over glass any day if it meant avoiding the affect and posturing, and actually enjoying actual wine in actual life. Eschewing plastic cups is simply a stab at lifestyle branding which I am all too happy, in a deep-recession economy, to see go into the dustbin-- hopefully once and for all.

One note with plastic cups that I've found helpful when hosting: Go for the 8-oz rather than 16- or 32-oz. It'll keep the wine flowing longer!

Never said I always drink wine in plastic cups, just challenging the idea that it is somehow wrong, or gauche, or low-brow or frowned-upon to do so. And if you'd like to bring up the issue of the environment, you're opening up quite a Pandora's box when it comes to wine: real cork, plastic cork, industrial processing, monoculture growing in less-developed countries to the detriment of local economies-- the list goes on and on.
Regarding cost, the answer is that I spend pennies on Riedel's silly cost-of-a-bottle-per-glass rule-- I'm estimating about $10 a year, but again I don't just use plastic. I also use inexpensive stemware ($20 worth year) in the last , and in non-formal occasions (and this should really have you fulminating in a brow-furrow) repurposed glass jars ($0). Funny, because I've drank some truly spectacular wine in that time, which I enjoyed with food and company. Now I'll ask you to return the favor and tell me how much you spend per year on stemware?

Deb: I spend nothing at all on plastic cups and never buy them, so for me the calculation of glass vs. plastic is easy. I don't like the environmental aspect of its wastefulness - so we do agree plastic cups are not good. I have cheap wine glasses which serve the purpose well for my needs. I have re-usable hard plastic glasses (not the throw-away kind) for picnics. Look, I'm not saying this isn't worth a splurge or that different shaped glasses don't affect the perceived taste - I'm saying the guideline of spending what you would spend on a bottle of wine - per GLASS - is hardly sensible advice in the current climate, when for most people's needs it's not necessary in the least. This article really rubs me the wrong way, especially at the moment when many of us are economizing just to be able to afford basics.

Dcarl1, I'm sorry this article rubbed you the wrong way. I do believe I characterized purchasing glasses such as these as an investment. That's what mine have turned out to be, and I continue to feel that I get a return on that investment every time I have a glass of wine. If you are happy with the glasses you have, then you're all set. Read no further. And I have those re-usable hard plastic glasses, too. I don't like them as much as my stemless glasses for picnics, but to each their own. A lot of people have asked me "does your wine glass make a difference?" What I discovered was yes, it did--to me--and I think it did to the 100 other people at the seminar, too. (no scientific evidence for that claim, but there was show of hands vote and I don't remember anyone raising their hand to say they thought the wine in the paper cup tasted better).

I purchased 4 of the Riedel O stemless glasses a few years ago, and I have not been disappointed in them at all. I've done taste tests comparing them to other wine glasses, and some stemless crystal as well, and they really do make a difference. I've probably broken 2 a year on average, mostly while hand washing the glasses. I also bought the standard size riedel cabernet decanter which is fantastic. It's very sturdy, and the shape works well with several red varietals. I don't drink that much pinot, but even if I did I couldn't justify buying one of their pinot decanters. Those are definitely luxury items, and they all look like a huge pain to clean and store safely.

Of course wine tastes better in a wine glass according to Georg Riedel -- he is the founder of a wine glass company.

Certain vessels do impart a certain flavor in transit/storage. This is why I rarely bought water in plastic bottles, only in glass, or drinks in cans. For immediate consumption from bottle to cup I doubt it really matters much, unless there's an odor to the cup. It's not a new concept that taste ties closely with your sense of smell.

As pompous as this sounds, $60-80 for a set of 4 glasses isn't THAT steep. I bought a set of 6 water glasses that are $25/each, and I'm not well off at all -- they just looked cool and I loved the weight. :)

If you've only spent $10 for a bottle of wine, who cares what it's served in because the wine was probably mass produced anyway.

I feel it is about respecting the artisan and his product. If you have a $500 bottle of wine, it would be a shame and rather disrespectful to the artisan (who really may or may not care) to drink it from a styrofoam cup. While one can do it, would one do it?

I do not drink wine, so you can disregard everything I said above. :)

I was at a Riedel crystal seminar recently, and from the evidence I tasted I now do believe the finely designed and specialized glasses make a difference. Wine is an aesthetic experience. It's a luxury item. So it makes sense that the aesthetic experience is heightened by luxury glassware.

Do I have expensive wine glasses? Nope. Can't afford them! But I have the best I can reasonably afford, and I enjoy drinking from them more than the emergency banquet glasses in the back of the cupboard.

@vinnyger: ROFL what a thread-closer...and for whatever reason I heard Pinky (Pinky & the Brain) say that.

Here's the link to that article, StBernard -

http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/shattered_myths

Very good article, too. I mean, seriously - they're using the tongue map as a guide to where to impact the wine's flavor? There's no such thing. I'm all for good wine glasses, and the shape will definitely impact the aromas and how you perceive the wine. I notice the way the tastings were set up really led people through it - she would set the expectations and people would taste what they were told they would.

It's like scented geraniums. Sure, that's a "pineapple" scented geranium... but if you didn't know that beforehand, you wouldn't place that scent as being pineapple.

This post reminds me of this.

I've been to a Riedel seminar. I thought then and think now that it was nonsense. Beautifully put together nonsense, making good use of the placebo effect, of the human tendency to agree with seeming experts, and of group dynamics, but nonsense nonetheless.

That said - if you're ignorant, or if you have a tendency to allow your views to be swayed by others, then you probably really will experience the wine as being better when drunk from the Riedel glasses. Placebo effects are incredibly powerful - it's been shown that you can alleviate the perception of pain when removing wisdom teeth by injecting saline; that aspirin works better if it's expensive and heavily branded than if it's cheap and generic, and that telling cleaners that their cleaning activity is good exercise actually causes them to start losing weight. Unfortunately, if you have confidence in your own palate and are disinclined to be swayed by others, the wine will taste pretty much the same to you whether you're drinking it from plastic cups, cheap Walmart glasses, the 'wrong' Riedel glasses or the right Riedel glasses. Any differences caused by the differing amount of exposure to the air, the concentration of the fumes or so on will be fairly minimal even in the most extreme comparisons (say between the plastic cups and the right Riedel glasses) and will be pretty much non-existent in any less extreme comparison.

I drink my wine (a 2005 Meursault this evening; Javillier's Les Tillets) from proper stemware because it simply feels nicer. It introduces a certain ceremony and formality, which I like. (The stemware I use is from Schott Zweisel, who are slightly cheaper than Riedel and actually have a better product - they make titanium crystal, which has actually been properly tested by recognised, independent bodies, and shown to be tougher than lead crystal which means it breaks less and can be safely put through the dishwasher. They have the guts to submit their claims to proper scrutiny, unlike Riedel.) I get aesthetic satisfaction from the appearance of the glass; its feel and the way the wine looks in it. But I don't delude myself that it makes a significant difference to the taste.

I'm peeved by this post because it's caused me to lose respect for Deb's opinions on wine. I suppose most of her judgments aren't affected by these influences, but I didn't want to think that she could be this easily fooled. If she tested her palate in the conditions applied in the studies described in that Gourmet article I'd be absolutely astonished if she could reliably discern a difference between the way the same wine tastes in different glasses. Though if she could that would be a tribute to her powers of taste, and it would rightly get her considerable attention and kudos...

Never in all my days would I expect THIS post to garner so much attention.

Thanks for all your feedback--positive and negative.

A word about subjectivity. The commentary I provide on this site and elsewhere is all subjective. I don't believe much in a "science" of taste. Instead, I believe all taste (pizza, wine, hamburgers) is subjective and depends on environmental (and other) factors, and that people should make their own decisions about what they put in their mouths based on likes and dislikes and not what anyone else says. So for those of you who are content with your stemware/plastic cups/jars/glasses, I say "Cheers." For those who have wondered if stemware matters, do your own taste test. Maybe it will matter to you, maybe it won't. It matters to me.

I hope that even my critics above--the ones who have lost faith in my wine advice and see this post as somehow antithetical to what I promote in terms of wine value--will appreciate that at least you know what I think on this subject. Now you can discard my opinions in full knowledge of what glass I used to come up with them!

Leilah, you may be interested in the work of Ann C. Noble, formerly a professor of viticulture at UC Davis. According to her research, we all need to be told what we're smelling or tasting before we can identify it. She contends that we lack the proper vocabulary to identify smells and tastes precisely, but that can be addressed through education. That's the basis for her work on the sensory evaluation and appreciation of wine, and it's why the hundreds of students who go through UC Davis and other wine programs throughout the world come out saying "gooseberries" when they smell Sauvignon Blanc.

jnicola, Riedel did not lead me by the nose. I wrote my tasting notes down before he started speaking. If it matters to you, you should know that I almost always can tell different wines apart, can identify varieties blind, and even tell you where the grapes came from in some cases (though I am bad on blind tasting Italian wines and identifying vintages). I would like to think this makes me a better wine writer, and it's not that unusual. You should see a Master Sommelier or winemaker at work. They're amazing. Nobody is perfect, however, and tasting blind is always a humbling experience that throws the limits of your palate and your wine education into sharp relief.

Deb, don't listen to the negative criticism; in fact, don't even respond to those critics. Some people make it their life effort to downplay the opinions of others.

Now down to business... The vessel that you drink wine out of greatly affects the overall impact of the wine itself. Particularly, the wine can be easily stirred to awaken the vibrant aromas which unleash the flavors held within. The human nose can sense more than 2,000 smells while the mouth can only sense sour, sweet, salty and bitter. The power of smell greatly affects the attractiveness of the thing you drink or eat. Think about it.

I would suggest spending what you can afford on wine glasses. Whether its $10 or $100, if you make an attempt to purchase an actual wine glass set, you will be experiencing more quality wine than someone who drinks it out of a plastic cup.

Not necessarily Freestyla... there are other factors to account for:

The first is that glass, crystal in particular allows for optimum clarity when observing the color of wine. Taste, aroma and color are the three most important aspects when appreciating wine; using plastic cups would reduce our ability to get the most out of our senses. Also, unlike plastic, the brims of glass wine goblets can be manipulated to thinner than 1mm. This allows the wine to flow directly onto your tongue (and your taste buds) instead of immediately spreading out, avoiding your tongue and filling the pockets of your cheeks.

Additionally, the weight of glass helps stemware remain sturdy. If you used plastic stemware, the wine would weigh more than the cup and tumble over more frequently, costing you more money to replace those rugs. Standard glass and plastic costs about the same to manufacture but people are willing to pay more for glass than plastic. The luxury of hand-blown crystal comes with uniqueness, elegance and a sense of pride...just like that Corvette we all want.

As I'm sure you may know, recent news warns drinking water out of plastic bottles because the combination of sunlight, heat and other factors can cause carcinogens to leach out of the plastic and slowly poison you over time. They first discovered this by noticing a slight plastic taste to water. With a highly acidic ingredient like wine, the carcinogenic effect of holding wine in plastic can be even more detrimental to our health. A few companies make wine glasses that contain traces of lead which adds structure and allows the consumer to resort to dishwasher cleaning. Riedel does not do this. My suggestion is to avoid any wine glasses that are dishwasher safe. Would you want that corvette sent into a carwash or would you feel much better having someone handwash it for you?