Drink This Now: Lesson 2 Report

On Friday, we got a group together to complete Drink This Now Lesson 2 involving glassware. We purchased a Chardonnay and a Zinfandel from Vintage Cellar and prepared our glasses for smelling and tasting. Then we each took turns smelling and tasting the two different types of wines in the various glasses.

Name: Kenwood Sonoma County Chardonnay 2013
Variety: 100% Chardonnay
Region: Sonoma, California
Country: USA
Year: 2013
Price: $12

Wine Review: Flavorful notes of Gravenstein apples, lime, and ginger combine with toasty vanilla notes, a lush and viscous mouthfeel, with a crisp refreshing finish.

My Review: I thought this was a very refreshing Chardonnay. It tasted very crisp and I could detect hints of apple and a slight buttery feel.

Name: Rubus Old Vines Zinfandel 2015
Variety: 98% Zinfandel + 2% Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: Lodi, California
Country: USA
Year: 2015
Price: $17

Wine Review: Ruby red in color, with red fruit, raspberry, and spice on the nose. This wine is medium in body, with notes of ripe cherry, cedar box, cinnamon, anise, black pepper, and hint of smoke on the palate. It has a long, silky finish.

My Review: This came off as a little spicy but still quite smooth. I enjoyed the hints of cedar but also the slight sweetness from the cherry flavors as well.

Step 1: We chilled the bottle of white in the fridge while we began to line up the different glasses we had available to us. We used a shot glass, a Rocks glass, flared glass, pint glass, stemless wine glass, large wine glass, and a "fishbowl" type bowl.

Step 2: We then poured a small amount of the Chardonnay into each glass and each took a sniff and recorded our observations:

Shot Glass- Very sharp, immediate smell hits you hard, concentrated, buttery/apple aroma
Rocks Glass- Not as sharp and aggressive as shot glass, but similar aromas
Flared Glass- This one allowed us to detect more fruit and apple-like flavors
Pint Glass- This glass made it harder to detect any aromas if barely anything at all
Stemless Wine Glass- This was softer and not as aggressive but could still detect
Large Wine Glass- Slightly more concentrated due to the curvature
“Fish Bowl” (Pyrex Dish)- Just smells like a bowl


Step 3: We then repeated the process above but with the red Zinfandel wine and recorded our observations:

Shot Glass- Very aggressive again, immediate smell hits you hard, concentrated, spicy/cherry aroma
Rocks Glass- Not as aggressive as shot glass, but similar smells from the Zinfandel
Flared Glass- Smelled more cherries and less spicy flavors here
Pint Glass- Could barely detect spice scent but that was it
Stemless Wine Glass-Less spicy and more fruity again
Large Wine Glass- Slightly more concentrated due to the curvature so more cherries and fruit
“Fish Bowl” (Pyrex Dish)- Just smells like a bowl AGAIN




In conclusion, we noticed that the smaller glasses such as the shot glass and the rocks glass made the wines smell very sharp and aggressive and the scent hit you immediately. The larger glasses such as the pint glass and the fishbowl were too massive so the bouquet was not even noticeable. However, the stemless wine glass and the large wine glass were clearly the best for smelling flavors and swirling the wine. The curvature of the glass allowed us to best detect the flavors of the wine which is a good thing we mostly drink out of normal wine glasses!