A brief stint as an apprentice glassblower on Sado Island in the late '80s left me with a great appreciation of the aesthetics of a well-made wineglass. The weight, the balance, the cut of the lip, the curve and thinness of the bowl -- and the subtle ring after a toast -- are all factors that, when they come together well, elevate a glass far beyond the merely functional.
But it wasn't until much later that I began to hear claims that the size and shape of the glass itself could have a dramatic impact on a wine's taste.
This idea seemed more than faintly ridiculous, so it was with great skepticism that I attended a "glass tasting" organized by Riedel (rhymes with "needle"), the Austrian crystal manufacturer that rose to fame after its Sommelier Burgundy glass was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the late 1960s for its permanent design collection.