Gira e rigira

A glass for tasting

Gira e rigira:

a unique goblet, which revolutionizes the way of tasting wine. Franco Parentini, owner of Vetrerie di Empoli, modernizes the particular movement of the wine poured in the glass and of the hand that delicately moves to rotate and analyze it.a small metal globe inserted between the top of the stem and the base of the glass allows, with a single, light caress of the thumb to give a soft rotating movement to the wine, in order to allow the evaluation of clarity, color and consistency, olfactory notes and taste sensations.

“It is a simple idea and concerns the habit we Italians have with wine and with the gestures connected to drinking it, which are not for everyone: from smelling it to swirling it in the glass. ‘Gira e rigira’ allows, while conversing at the table, to let the wine decant with an elegant and natural movement, without any embarrassment or feeling of inadequacy”.

Franco Parentini

Visual inspection, limpidity

The light reflected in the glass is accelerated by the rotary movement, allowing a better evaluation of clarity, vivacity and brightness. The movement also allows the immediate detection and evaluation of any possible presence of particles. Rotation also allows a better evaluation of wines having scarce transparency (for example aged reds), as it is possible to analyze the wine from different “views” without having to place the glass in different positions.

Visual inspection, color

The natural rotation concentrates a greater surface of wine on the glass. The movement facilitates the analysis of tonality, nuances (index of evolutionary state), intensity and brightness of color. Evaluations can be done by observing the wine from different angles, without moving the glass.

Visual inspection, consistency

The rotating movement allows the uniformity and homogenization of the liquid film on the wall of the glass. It is therefore possible to have a more accurate and objective evaluation about the speed of the fall of tears, about the amplitude of bows and about how the wine is recomposed inside the glass.

Olfactory examination

The rotation of the glass ensures a more homogeneous formation of the odor funnel. A slow rotation allows a preview of the bouquet and of the evolution of the wine; a subsequent more intense rotation allows to characterize the olfactory categories and to better evaluate intensity, complexity and pleasantness of the wine.

Tasting test

An intense rotation, done in a propaedeutic way compared to the gustatory examination, allows to homogenize the gustatory components of wine (the so called dry extract) and to refine the perception of “soft” taste sensations – from sugars and glyceric substances – and “hard”, from acids, salts and tannins.