Why Wine Glasses?

Filed in archive Wine Accessories on May 17, 2006

I always assumed you drank wine out of a wine glass, but as a FoodTV addict and regular cooking show junkie (even though I have to admit I'm not much of a cook), I have seen a number of shows where the chef is in Italy or another European country, and shock upon shock, they don't always drink wine out of wine glasses. Very often I've seen people drinking wine out of short tumblers that I might use for juice or scotch.

This got me to thinking: why exactly do we drink wine out a fancy shmancy wine glass?

Trinity Oaks says this is why: Wine glasses vary in size, shape and design, but good ones will be clear and unadorned (so you can view the color and clarity of the wine), not too thick (so the glass doesn't obstruct your contact with the wine), and with a stem long enough so you can hold the glass without handling the bowl (which raises the temperature of the liquid).

Most good wine glasses are tulip-shaped (they narrow toward the rim of the glass) to channel the volatile aroma and flavor essences of the wine into the nerve receptors at the rear of your nasal cavity when you sniff the wine. As a rule, the bowls of red wine glasses are larger and wider than those for whites.