Don’t Ruin a Good Bottle: Glass, Temperature and Decanter

Same wine, different result: a tasting that is half experiment

1. Gunderloch — Niersteiner Riesling Roter Hang 2024 (Rheinhessen, Germany)
2. Bardos — Ribera del Duero Reserva 2021 (Castilla y León, Spain)

A good bottle can taste ordinary for reasons that have nothing to do with the wine. Tonight we pour the same two wines in different ways and taste what changes: the shape of the glass, the temperature, and a little time in a decanter. You don’t need to know anything about wine to notice the difference. That is the point.

The experiments

Gunderloch, Niersteiner Riesling Roter Hang 2024. A young, aromatic Riesling from the red slate slopes above the Rhine. We taste it in a narrow wine glass and in an ordinary tumbler, then straight from the fridge and at the right temperature. Expect peach, citrus and white flowers, and see how much of that disappears when the wine is too cold.

Bardos, Ribera del Duero Reserva 2021. Tempranillo, known locally as Tinto Fino, aged in oak before release. We pour it straight from a freshly opened bottle and from a decanter that has been open for an hour, in a large glass and a small one. Expect dark cherry, plum, vanilla and spice, with tannins that soften as the wine breathes.

At home with these wines

The Riesling with smoked fish, Asian dishes or fresh goat’s cheese. The Ribera with grilled lamb, reindeer or a mature hard cheese.

Wine conversations

Keeping wine at home

Where to store bottles without a cellar, which wines are worth keeping and which to drink now, and how long an open bottle really lasts. You’ll leave knowing how to get the most out of the next bottle you buy in Alko.