RIHANNA’S PALATE DECIPHERED BY PHOTOS OF HER TAKING WINE GLASSES FROM RESTAURANTS
THURSTQUEEN GUESSES WHAT’S IN THE GLASS OF HOLLYWOOD’S FAVORITE WINE GLASS THIEF
Style icon. Beauty mogul. Talented musician. Ultimate bad girl and badass. And… Wine glass thief?
Anybody who was on the internet in 2016 knew that Rihanna was a prolific wine glass thief. Time Magazine, Josh Edwards from MTV on twitter and pretty much every single platform quickly became obsessed. Who could ever imagine Bad Girl Riri could make breaking open container laws look so got damn good? It seems her passion for wine continues to be a thing in 2022 and many fans are hoping for her to launch her own wine label, but for now it seems she’s perfectly happy with the Fenty line. I have no complaints about that, as Fu$$y happens to be my favorite lipgloss shade.
I’ve always had a preoccupation with Rihanna’s proclivity to casually take her wine glasses to-go from whatever nightclub, restaurant, or venue she’s leaving. Maybe it was her IDGAF energy, or that mischievous glimmer in her eye, I don’t know… But she is quite possibly the only person on earth who can make a glass of wine appear to be the ultimate fashion accessory. I’ll admit, there was a brief period in my twenties when I tried to emulate the lewk in my apartment with a grey trench coat and green satin evening gown, but I never could quite capture it like her.
But I have questions:
Whenever I see those images, there’s always one at least one question that irks me so:
What’s in the glass, Riri?
If I ever met her, that would probably be the first question I would ask. I just always want to know. I would probably follow up this question by asking her about her favorite wines, as she seems to be the prolific wine drinker and ultimate Thurstqueen herself. Needless to say - I’m a fan. And I probably have an unhealthy curiosity about what her palate is like and what kind of wines she enjoys on the reg.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at a timeline of Riri’s iconic moments of wine glass thievery and try to decipher what she’s drinking.
LETS START WITH THE OBVIOUS - CHAMPAGNE
The flute, the black satin evening gown, dude in a black tie photobombing in the back - all of these are dead giveaways that Riri is at some sort of fancy event. It looks like she is leaving some sort of venue, as there appears to be a coat rack behind her. It appears she is either drinking a glass of Champagne or some sort of sparkling wine. This clearly looks to be an event that favors high volume, so depending on the budget, what is in her glass might be Prosecco or some other kind of sparkler - as those tend to be cheaper and good for parties.
Yet - and this is a big yet - with all that in mind, the ultimate Bad Girl has expensive taste - as she has a history of purchasing $300.00 Champagne and pouring it into plastic cups before going on tour. My guess is that what is in Riri’s glass is most definitely some form of Champagne that is elegant enough to go down easy but is at a higher price point than Prossecco or sparkling wine. Riri has some serious standards, after all.
I probably would venture to guess she is drinking a venue-friendly Champagne that can be relatively discounted for larger events if purchased through a wholesaler or a distributor. Using deductive reasoning, I’d wager she’s drinking a glass of Veuve Cliquot.
The reason I chose Veuve is because the Veuve Cliquot brand was built by the ultimate wine badass - the Widow Barbe Nicole Ponsardin. During the Napoleonic wars, she built a Champagne empire in Russia of all places. She was the first woman to build her fempire in the wine business. I could see Riri choosing a glass of the widow’s wine, as both women are legends, entrepreneurs and icons in their own right.
RIESLING… BUT MAKE IT FASHION
This photo looks like Riri is somewhere a bit warmer - I mean, she is wearing white duh. One must assume that Labor Day hasn’t passed yet - though something tells me an iconoclastic icon such as herself wouldn’t really care about pedestrian fashion rules like that. Anyway, judging from the glass shape and that pale golden yellow color, coupled with that effortlessly chic outfit, the wine she is drinking is in fact a Riesling.
Riesling is so quaffable and easy-drinking. Not to mention it goes pretty much with everything, making it the perfect to-go wine. Something tells me a glass of Sancerre - that would be my second choice - just wouldn’t travel as well. An interesting fact about this image: Riri revealed on the Graham Norton Show that this is a wine glass that she ended up giving back to the hotel.
COMFY CHIC - MERLOT?
The high pony, the comfy shirt, the jeans, the downcast expression under the cruel and unforgiving flashes of the paparazzi’s cameras… These are all just signs that Riri wanted to drink something chill. Something easy. Something like Merlot.
Merlot is the ultimate chill wine. It’s lowkey, not too showy and the perfect wine to take in a glass back to your car if you’re trying to evade an army of tabloid photographers. Something tells me that if Riri was drinking a Merlot, she’d probably favor something from the Right Bank in Bordeaux - like somewhere in Saint-Émilion. At least… That was my initial thought until I did more research. It turns out, she was leaving the Santa Monica restaurant Giorgio Baldi which happens to be an Italian spot near Will Rogers State Beach. Oh Riri, you creature of contradictions, you.
I did some menu stalking and saw their wine list was pretty extensive. Heavy hitting Super Tuscans like the Siepi Maggei Toscana were on there as well as a great Nero d’Avola from Fededrico Curtez. I couldn’t possibly imagine that she would have a glass of Barolo on her - as that is simply not a to-go wine because of its sheer size and amount of tannin. So I took a gamble and figured that she was probably drinking the Siepi Toscana because it happens to be a blend of… Sangiovese and Merlot. Duh.
FEELING FIERCE - CABERNET SAUVIGNON
There’s a confidence here. That bright, golden dress that screams, “hey, I’m here bitches,” needs to be paired with an equally attention-grabbing wine. And we all know, no wine loves attention more than the king of grapes - Cabernet Sauvignon. Riri is again at an event here, which also leads me to believe that she is drinking a glass of Cabernet because buyers for events tend to run a bit conservative with their wine choices. They typically choose varietals like Chardonnay for white wine lovers and Cabernet for red wine enthusiasts. It’s usually because those are the varietals most people are familiar with.
Also - that glass looks like a glass for Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s not rounder and more bell-shaped like a Burgundy glass. So something tells me here a Cabernet is what our girl is drinking right now.
AND FINALLY… BECAUSE SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO TAKE A BOTTLE AND THAT’S OKAY.
I immediately knew Riri was a girl after my own heart when I saw this photo of her leaving Georgio Baldi - that same Italian spot - clutching a bottle of friggin Sassicaia. For those of you who don’t know about this wine from Italy, more specifically the prestigious Bolgheri DOC, it happens to be one of the premiere Super Tuscans that is WAY out of the Thurstqueen price range. If you ordered a bottle of this bad boy and didn’t finish it, you’d probably be taking it to go as well.
She appears to be quite the Sassecaia fan, as she likes to take the bottle with her on multiple occasions. Judging from the limited information I’m able to find on the internet, it seems like Riri has a palate that skews towards mostly Italian wines, with a penchant for high-acid whites - like Riesling or Pinot Grigio. Very sophisticated indeed.
