Does it really matter what kind of glass you use for wine? When is it OK to pour Pinot Noir into jelly jars? Under what circumstances-if any-must you fork over $5 or $50 for a single stem? These are the questions prompted by an e-mail I got last week from a Canadian tourist who recently visited Santa Fe. The Canadian lady was miffed because, while dining at Tesuque Village Market-which she described as "truly a gem"-her red wine was served in (gasp!) a tumbler.
"If it is intended to be chic, we believe it's totally uncool," the Canadian lady wrote, adding, "red wine is meant to be swirled and the aroma appreciated. This can only happen in a glass designed for such functions." Really? Let's examine.
"We think it's pretty cool to serve wine in tumblers," says Market owner Michael Stein, who was pretty surprised to hear that someone had made a fuss about his wine glasses-all the way from Canada. "It's a very casual way of serving wine and that's very much what Tesuque's about. We're just trying to make it fun and comfortable."
But that's not to say that the Market isn't taking wine seriously. Stein's sommelier is Paul Montoya, formerly of Geronimo and Inn of the Anasazi, and his wine list runs from a relatively inexpensive $30 bottle all the way to Dom Perignon. "Certain wines can be
drunk in tumblers and certain wines should not," Stein says, adding that the restaurant stocks tumblers, regular old stems and some Riedel glasses; patrons have their choice of glasses. (The lady from Canada did report that when she complained about the tumblers, the server brought out stems.)
Greg O'Byrne, local wine guru and executive director of the Santa Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta, believes wine is all about context. His philosophy: "It's not about what you drink or what you drink it from, but where you are and why." You can be sure that if O'Byrne is leading you through a tasting of $200-a-bottle Burgundies, he's dusted off his finest stems, but that's not what he does every day. "I drink wine out of a tumbler if I'm drinking a Chianti with friends or standing up at a wine bar in Italy," he reports. "In fact, my favorite wine I ever had was out of a plastic tumbler, at Big Sur, with my future wife."
Byron Rudolph, of La Casa Sena Wine Shop, says flat-out: "I prefer finer glassware." At the shop he stocks both Riedel (the top of the line for wine glasses) and Spiegelau (second tier, but Riedel's only real competition). "Honestly, if I'm at home I drink $5 wine out of Riedel or $50 out of Riedel. If I'm at somebody's house and they have nothing but funky, cheap glasses, I might not bring a nice bottle the next time...but I'm certainly not going to say anything." At fine restaurants he expects fine glassware.
At Kokoman Fine Wines, Riedel stemware is priced from about $10 per glass to about $70 per glass (yes, $70), and according to the staff, it moves fairly quickly. Why would anyone spend that kind of money on wine glasses? The right glass really does make the wine taste better. And if you're going to spend a lot of money on wine, you probably want to get the most out of it. On Wednesday, Sept. 27, as part of the Wine and Chile Fiesta, Georg J Riedel himself will host a seminar demonstrating the difference a glass can make. For $125, you can compare regular wine glasses to Riedel Sommelier series glasses (you get to keep the set of three). By all accounts, it's an enlightening experience, and as of this writing there were still plenty of tickets left.
In the meantime, the New Mexico Wine Growers Association will unveil their first annual Wine and Lifestyles Expo this weekend at Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque. (Yes, this is the same weekend as the New Mexico Wine Festival at Bernalillo. No, I don't understand why these two things are happening at the same time.)
At the Expo's "Corks and Forks" food- and wine-pairing dinner on Friday night, sommelier Bobby Lee Lawrence and viticulturalist Bernhard Maier will discuss the wines served with food from Blue Plate Special. The menu includes roasted gazpacho with jerk shrimp and cilantro sour cream; red chile beef with goat cheese cream; and grilled jerk chicken with mango gastrique, mashed potatoes and grilled calabacitas packages, followed by blueberry lemon tartlets. (Tickets for that cost $45.)
On Saturday and Sunday from 3 pm until 9 pm, it'll be your usual slurp-n-burp; you get a free glass, (not a tumbler!) you take it around to all the winery tables, they pour you samples...you know the drill. The twist is that there is a big focus on food and wine pairing, including some food and wine seminars like "So You Think You Know Wine" by Bobby Lee Lawrence and "Que Syrah, Syrah" by Bob Senecal. Participating restaurants will sell tapas plates and have recommendations for which wines to drink with their dishes. Tickets cost $15. Go to
for more information.
Tesuque Village Market
NM 590 at Bishop's Lodge Road in Tesuque
988-8848
La Casa Sena Wine Shop
125 E. Palace Ave., #29
988-9232
Kokoman Fine Wines
Highway 285 in Pojoaque
455-2219
Santa Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta
438-8060
New Mexico Wine Growers Association Wine and Lifestyles Expo
866-494-6366
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