Camping Wineglasses



Can the material our wineglasses are made of add unwanted flavors to our favorite Sauvignon Blanc?  We set out to see if there was a difference by contacting GSI Outdoors and having them send us two of their plastic (co-polyester) and two stainless steel stemless wineglasses.



The Test
We headed down to Marigolds Wine and Delicacies for their weekly 5 for $5 wine tasting event with our GSI Outdoors wineglasses in hand.  Both of us sampled each wine out of a traditional glass wineglass, to be used as our 'control point', and then out of both the stainless steel and plastic stemless wineglasses.  We compared how the flavor of each wine was affected by the materials, and how they compared against our glass control point.  Between each test we ate a cracker or two and took a sip of water to cleanse our palate.  The following wines included in this test:
  • Red Heads Studios Yard Dog White
  • Walnut Block Wines Collectibles Sauvignon Blanc
  • Pillar Box Red
  • Red Heads Studios Yard Dog Red
  • Morse Code Pathway Shiraz

The Results
Red Heads Studios Yard Dog White

Although neither materials presented any off flavors, the stainless wineglass presented the closest comparison to our control.

Walnut Block Wines Collectibles Sauvignon Blanc

As with the Yard Dog White, neither materials presented any off flavors, although the plastic wineglass had the closest flavor to our control.

Pillar Box Red

This was the first one we really noticed a difference in flavors.  The plastic carried an odd note at the very end, and we thought the flavor of the wine in the plastic was more subdued.   We felt the flavor from the stainless wineglass was brighter than that of the glass, and we actually preferred the stainless over the glass.  We attribute this to the possible increased aeration of the wine as it is swirled around the textured interior finish on the stainless.

Red Heads Studios Yard Dog Red

Although neither materials presented any off flavors, the stainless wineglass presented the closest comparison to our control.

Morse Code Pathway Shiraz

As with the Pillar Box Red, we found the plastic to carry an off flavor at the end and the stainless had the closest flavor to the glass.

Conclusion
We recommend purchasing the GSI Outdoors line of stainless steel wineglasses over their plastic counterparts.    After spending many years camping and sipping wine from stainless and plastic coffee cups we entered into this test expecting the plastic wineglass to to be the winner.  We had experienced distinct metallic flavors in the past from the stainless coffee cups and were shocked in this test when we noticed the only material presenting any 'off' flavors was the plastic.  We still enjoyed the flavor of the wine from the plastic wineglasses, and feel they would still be an economical option, the stainless just had a flavor closest to our 'control' glass.