At the most elementary level, wine drinkers understand that red wine tastes better out of a large glass. The flavors open up and the tannins become less harsh. But the Riedel concept goes way beyond that. They offer a parade of glasses in different sizes and shapes, each designed to be used with a different varietal of wine. The guiding principle is that the content of the glass determines the shape.
Form follows function.
So the Chardonnay glass is built to emphasize that particular wine's strengths, not its faults. And the Cabernet glass does the same for Cabernet. Riedel loves to convert skeptics. He strives to explain in complex scientific terms why the shape of the glass matters. He talks about molecule size, tongue structure and the nature of different aromas.