Which glass is the best for Plavac Mali? We discussed this many times, so we decided to try it. We didn't want to taste only Plavac. We chose six wines. By the time we sat down at the table, the number of samples had reached eight, and later two more came into play. We tasted each wine from nine glasses. The chosen Plavac was best from a Riedel Bordeaux glass, and its closest relative, perhaps even parent, Crljenak or Tribidrag, from a Burgundy glass produced by Spigelau. Vranac, which is a close relative of both Plavac and Crljenak, was best served from Vivo glasses acquired with coupons collected in some long-ago promotional campaign at the supermarket. Price and a famous producer are obviously no guarantee that a glass is the right one for a particular wine.
Two whites and two reds love the same glass
When choosing wines, we looked for varieties and styles from all our regions, and the criterion was quality. Only if they were good could we enjoy the whole thing. We remembered two during the tasting and pulled them out of the cellar. The Riedel Performance Pinot Noir glass was the best for four wines: 2010 Baranja Chardonnay by Slavko Kalazić, known under the nickname Jelen, the powerful Graševina 2018 that Slavko's team bottled for Zlatno brdo, the 2018 Plešivica Pinot Noir by the Korak family from grapes from the Križevac and Cimbuščak sites and the 2017 Moslavina Frankovka by Igor Ivanić.
Wines are like people. Some of us like tailored clothes, others like looser ones, as Zagreb residents would say, sloppy. And it has nothing to do with gender, age, nationality or race, but with build and character. There are wines that prefer a larger glass and those that prefer a smaller one. Width is also important; when it comes to glasses, it's about the hips, not the waist, and the widening or narrowing on the top of the glass also affects the impression. That's why these glass recommendations are only valid for wines from that producer, that style and that vintage. A wine that is two years younger or more mature may require a completely different one.
It's not the color that matters
Two more different wines chose the same glass, again a Riedel, and this time it wasn't just the color that mattered. For the 2015 Riesling of the Kezele family from Šumećani near Ivanić Grad, we included a tenth glass in the offer, a Riedel for that variety. But the off-dry wine, which is a great English term for semi-dry or gently semi-sweet with more pronounced acids, left the best impression in the Bordeaux wine glass from the same producer from the Vinum series. In it, the Plavac 2018 by Frane Miloš from Ponikva on Pelješac was also the most liked. It was quite surprising that two such different wines tended to the same glass, but we chose them unanimously.
Malvazija Amfora 2019. by Marino Markežić Kabola from Momjan was among the best wines in the Amber Wines white macerates evaluation, and it left an excellent impression from a flat glass. We named it that because it has a relatively flat bottom and walls, and we only know about it that it was purchased in an ordinary travel store in Montenegro. According to the photo, a similar one can be found in Croatian ones.
Classic shape, unknown producer
Cabernet sauvignon-franc 2020. by Misna vina (Mass wines) from Trnava is not one of the common blends of the most widespread variety in the world. While tasting this wine, the question arose why there are no more such blends, especially after a sip from the largest Bordeaux glass we had, of a classic shape and an unknown producer. In this case, the choice of glass was expected and classic.
Vranac Riserva 2015 by the Grabovac family from Donji Prološac is a great wine from a great variety that Montenegrins and Macedonians are fighting for, and we seem to be ashamed of it. The Grabovacs were the first to make a great wine from vranac in Croatia. And a modest wine, because among the glasses that cost tens of euros apiece, it chose the larger Vivo, again the one that was given to regular customers in the retail chain.
More expensive dosn't mean better
Crljenak is the parent of Vranac and a variety with many names. In our country it is also called Tribidrag and Pribidrag, in Montenegro and Macedonia Kratošija, in Italy Primitivo, and in California Zinfandel. Crljenak Punta Skala 2015 from the Royal Vineyards in the Zadar area is full, juicy and ripe and fresh. It did well in a Spigelau Burgundy glass and a Zalto glass with almost the same volume and shape of the upper part, thinner glass and slightly shorter stem, but much higher price.
