Glassware

A glass is no mere vessel — it directs where the first sip lands in the mouth. With a wine as high in acidity as Clare Valley Riesling, that determines the entire impression. A narrow, tall glass, familiar from Alsace, guides the wine to the center of the tongue rather than to the side edges. There, at the edges, acidity tastes sharpest.

That's exactly what this wine needs. A wide, bowl-shaped glass would push the acidity forward and make the Riesling seem shrill, when really the glass holds lime, green apple, and, with age, a smoky petrol note. A narrow glass instead concentrates these aromas at the nose, rather than losing them in a wide bowl.

Watervale and Polish Hill don't even need different glasses, because the difference between the riper fruit from limestone soil and the tighter acidity from slate shows even within the same narrow glass. You just have to smell closely. For Riesling, the rule holds: the narrower at the top, the more concentrated the aroma at the rim.

With the valley's old red wines, the rule reverses. A Cabernet-Malbec from Wendouree or an Armagh Shiraz from Jim Barry brings firm tannin and plenty of alcohol. Both need room. A bowl-shaped glass lets more wine come into contact with air and softens the tannin's edge, allowing the dark fruit to unfold before the wine reaches the tongue.

Set both glass shapes side by side, and the difference between the valley's two faces becomes clear at a glance. Slender and upright stands for Riesling, round and heavy for Shiraz and Cabernet. A single all-purpose glass handles both only middlingly well. Anyone who drinks here often eventually buys both.