hiningaboutwine

When buyingstemware becomes a dauntingtask

"ls it goi11g to be crystalor glass?" he asked.

"Crystallooks moresparkly,no?"

BY RAKA SARKHEL

Recenrl)� when ilie last of my wine glasses succumbed to an inadvertent knock, we (afamily ofrwo) kJ1ewit was ti.me for a trip tofKEA.We are aonestop-shop family and as recent migrants to Sydney,that's me onlyone-stop shop we knew. UntilaVictoria'sBasement ad made its waytoour letterbox.

This is not tosay we areparticularly fussy aboutstemware andsuchthings. But, after beingforcedtodrink unpalatableNashik wines backathome(often inplastic cups), when youfind very drinkableoptions at only double thepriceof packaged water, youoffer mem your full attention,respect, andpretension, if you please.

In shore, youmight as well make a fuss. And so wectid.

I, a seafood lover,decided rime we needed white wine glasses to savour my chardonna)� alternati.ngly with a bite of rose-flesh salmonor a crispy calamari ring. (Do nor go withmy food and winepairings, I am still stuck at meright kindofglasses!) He, being asteal,freak and thus, ared wine guzzler, decided mar even themere sightof white wineglassesuppedthe acidity levelsin his sromach.

Wereached a consensus and decided that we wanted to be allprim andprecious about the wholeexperienceof drinking cheap wine. Soseparateglasses for whites andreds itwouldbe.

We both knewit was going m be avery longday.

A wine glass is wickedly divided into a bowl, astem and afoot. If heliked thestem of aparticularbrand, Ifound mebowlnot quite to mytaste; whenI liked thefoot,he hated thestem.We slowly moved towards che stemless glasses which a.re in vogue right now,only to noddisapprovingly and rush back tothe more traditionalofferings.

As we began me bunt for the red wine glasses, we were faced by several grievous and gravequestions.

"It has lead in it, BT\X"�"he said, as heproceededto list theeffects of lead poisoning from ahealthwebsite, stoppedshonat 'alteredtesticular functioning', and put the crystal glass down and moved on to the next brand.

Types Of Wine Glasses

On the shelf to the right sat a nice,mid sized bowl with adainty stem thatdrew our Aatcery.The very nextinstant, we discovered a longishvariety of thesame ware."A burgundy glass and aBordeaux glass!" declaredmy beau in aquick display of one-upmanship. Wehadnotevengonepast onevariety and we already werehit by subdivisions!

"Burgundy for the morearomatic wines, like pinot noir, and Bordeaux glasses (the longishones)forfull-bodiedones like rl1e shiraz or cabernet sauvignon," herattled on.

"Whatabout amerloc!"I asked witha whiff of sarcasm.

He pretended to ignore me andreadout loud,"Thecontents of aburgundy glass should hit the tipof your tongue while thatof aBordeaux glass should be directed towards thebackof your mouth."

We wereonce againfacedwiilithecrystal versusglass dilemmawhen anomer article on rl1e web informed us thatglassstemware willhave aLipat merimfordurability which is nota desirable feature for wine enjoyment. It wasoneof tl1osemoments whenyou start to regret theWorld Wide Web anditsentrapmem.

Aftermuchadoandfinicky comparisons, we settled for aset of burgundy and

PinotNdl!' anomerofBordeaux glasses for thereds, dreading what wasin score next.

\Vhite wine glasses weremydepartment, and thankfullythey are astraightforward lot.AH you need is a nice and upright u-shaped bowl on a stem tomaimaincooler temperatures. Easy! Or so I thought I waspelted with several manifestations and in1aginingsof the letter"u" whicb slowly paved the wayfor anhour-longbout ofindecision.

Myotl1er half had conveniently disappeared amidst the racks of cryst.'llonly

Ito be found puffingawayat acigarettein thecarpark.Onbeingcaught,he Hashed a sheepishgrin andproceeded to help meout wirl1glasses for my Riesling

\Vim not manytoour liking, we agreed thesewould be our temporaryoptionsfor d1etime being.

Champagne Autes were nextinLine,and given chat the bubbliesgive born of usan acid attack, we went past them quickly. \1<.7e mrnstsix traditional Aures into thecart and made adashfor thecounterwhen my visiblybored better half asked,''\Vhacshall weserve arosein?"

A salesmanoverheard andsaid rl1ey had run ourof rose stemware. He washeavensent,my partner andl born agreed.

As we walkedpastthe aislestowards me paymentcounter,on aboard beside the wjne glass racks was written: AgeLikeFine Wine.

IthinkI may haveaged alittle after that wine glass buyingexperience. And not quite like fine wine.

Be mat as it may,chin-chin!