Ontario Wine Review:  Commentary ... ISO Glasses
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Ah-so, the ISO glass – you’ve all seen it, you've probably all used one, heck, if you've been to any wine show, you probably have one or two in your collection; but I'll bet dollars to doughnuts you probably don't use them very often, if at all.  I have a bunch of them, in fact, I probably own more ISO glasses than all other glasses combined.  I pull them out when I have company over, when I’m serving dessert wines, Ports, Sherries, things like that; but rarely do I use them when I bring out a nice bottle or during my home tastings for reviews.  Truth be known, I can't stand the ISO glass - the International Standards Organization glass sucks.  Pardon my language.  This opinion became crystal clear to me when I hosted my most recent wine challenge and tallied the scores.  Wines I had thought were going to show well, didn't some that did show well were ones I had thought would be nearer to the bottom.  Fruity, easy drinking wines showed well in the ISO, while those needing time were left lagging behind.  During one of the evenings, we took the same wine – after it had received quite a few poor marks - and put it into a Riedel red wine glass ... everybody agreed that it was much better and that they would have scored it higher had it appeared in the Riedel the first time around.  

So why on earth do we use such a glass for tasting?  As one attendee pointed out, "ISO glasses are meant to show the faults in a wine."  Why are we torturing ourselves with these glasses?  I don't get it.  Who drinks wine to taste, and/or smell, the faults?  When 99.9% of us drink for the pleasure, the aromas, the tastes -who wants to taste faults?  

It’s for this reason that many wineries are moving away from the ISO glass at their tasting bar and investing in pretty much anything else - from IKEA stemware (box of six Svelka red wine glasses regular $4.99 -$2.99 on sale) to Riedel and Spiegelau ($10.00 a stem and or more).  They realize that drinking out of an ISO glass is, one, not helping them to sell their wine, and two, it’s not what the customer is going to be using once they get the wine home.  So why show the wine in an unfavorable light (glass) to the consumer?  On the other hand, if you are not going to step up with better glasses, don’t step down to an even more inferior glass.  Plastic medicine cups won’t do, and some of those fake ISOs are horrible – best to stick with the ISO glass then kill your wine this way.  Please understand this is not a “slap on the wrist” article – I’m not naming names.  It’s about what wineries, festivals, shows and tastings are doing, not only to their wines, but to the customers when they insist on showcasing the wines in an ISO glass.

When you, as a consumer, open a bottle of wine, you probably have a glass you like to pour the wine into, maybe even ones for different occasions:  if you're being romantic or having guests over or just having a glass with dinner.  Even after the most traumatic experiences and we “need a drink” (I'm talking a break-up, death, etc.) we don't reach for the ISO, we grab a big glass, something that'll make the pain go away (granted that's the alcohols job), but we also want something that will make it taste better going down.  Some folks decant their wines, others open them ahead of time to "let them breathe" while still others are of the open and pour frame of mind ... but never do we grab an ISO glass for these moments.  So why on earth do we see them in tasting rooms, at wine events and shows?  They make the wine taste funny, awkward and in some cases unappealing.  Don't make me bring my own glassware to your tasting room - I wanna taste the wine as you meant it to taste, not its faults (though keep in mind - some wines are just faulty and that can't be helped, no matter what style of glass you use).  I know one writer who carries his own glasses everywhere he goes ... but they’re ISO glasses - I don't get it.  When I travel I also bring my own glassware, a set of Spiegelaus, so I can enjoy my wine as I relax at the end of the day.  When I know I’ll be visiting a place or person often, I’ll get them a set of good glasses, mainly for selfish reasons - I want to know I can have a proper glass of wine when I get there.  

I have been to few events where they got the glassware issue right:  those that stick out are the Lake Erie Vintage Tasting North Shore (both Viewpointe, 2006, and Erie Shore, 2007) and the wineries that brought us the "Somewhereness" show (they provided etched commemorative Riedel glasses).  The Somewhereness folks knew that their wines were not going to show well enough in an ISO glass to command the price they were asking per bottle.  An ISO-style glass is detrimental to good wine, especially if you want to show it off in the best light.  Ditch the ISO, invest in something that’ll help sell your wine … We are making some beauties, and they are being served at tasting bars in the crappiest vessels; this practice makes me shake my head; why are we doing this?  As for my next tasting challenge, I will be conferring with glassware manufacturers/distributors to see if we can get a better glass to showcase Ontario's best - all our wines/your wines deserve it.  

Grape Guy’s Picks of the Bunch:  A Broken Shiraz and One Half of a Pinot
Visit the winery or their website for more details or to purchase these great wines.

Creekside Estate Winery 2005 Broken Press Shiraz - $32.95 (W, WTH)

www.creeksidewine.com

A few years ago, Creekside's winemaking team had a dilemma - their basket press broke while pressing some Vionier.  So instead of panicking, they had the brilliant idea of putting what juice they were able to salvage into their premium Shiraz ... and voila Broken Press Shiraz was born, with just a touch (3-5 %) of Viognier added for fruitiness and aromatics.  Well the Broken Press Shiraz took off, and now they break a press every year just so they can make this wine (just kidding), but they do add in the Viognier.  This year’s version is aged twenty months in new French and American wood and it tastes and smells like ... a little piece of heaven, but something tells me that will not suffice for you, so let's try it this way:  violets, black fruit, cassis and pepper make up the nose; while the pepperiness continues by way of white pepper in the mouth along with some red fruit and black fruit.  This contrast sends your taste buds into overload as it tries to determine which is which; after all that confusion this wine finishes on a delicate note with a touch of floral spiciness.  Even better than its predecessor.

Coyote's Run 2006 Red Paw Pinot Noir - $24.00 (W, WTH)
www.coyotesrunwinery.com

"Where's the black paw?" I asked.  " We ran out of time during bottling," I was told, "harvest commenced and we had to leave it till January.”  Good enough reason I guess, so there's no comparison at this time.  Back in 2004, Coyote’s Run made a name for themselves with their Red Paw and Black Paw Pinots - the grapes coming from either the red soil plot or the black soil plot that splits the property ... each soil imparting its particular terroir characteristics.  In 2005, there was not enough Pinot to make different bottlings so they combined everything to make a 2005 Pinot.  Now with a bumper harvest in 2006, we're back to distinguishing the red from the black grown grapes.  The Red Paw has a nose of cranberry, sour cherry, and a variety of red fruits with a subtle earthiness.  In the mouth, cherries and vanilla lead the charge, while a little bit of the earth creeps in, with a hint of tannins enroute to a finish that is smooth and tasty.

 

Also check out the Coyote’s Run 2005 Off-Dry Vidal (W, WTH)
 

Taste it Again Grape Guy: 

On occasion, I’ll take a wine I like and put it away in a “special box” for a few years just to see how well it ages … here are some of those wines:

Cave Springs 2002 Cabernet-Merlot ... Southbrook 2002 Cabernet-Merlot ...

Stoney Ridge 2004 Pinot Noir ... Stratus 2002 Wildass Red ...

Willow Springs 2002 Cabernet 

Availability legend:  W (Winery) – L (LCBO/Vintages) – WTH (Winery to Home)