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Have You Ever Wondered Why Each Wine Has a Glass?

The Wine Academy around the corner has been on my mind a lot(probably because it´s Monday). You can think of wine as a sort of culture of its own, and as a culture blog, it’s hard not to think: why are there so many different wine glasses?

Every wine has a glass.

And to the non-enthusiast, it’s easy to overlook the different-shaped glasses.

What you might not know is that every glass has its own purpose – it goes beyond mere aesthetics.

Red Wine Glasses

No two wines are the same, and when drinking red wine, you’ll notice the glasses are larger in size. The bowls are larger and they have a rounded edge. Why?

The shape allows room for the nose to fit in the glass to pick up the aroma of the wine.

The larger size allows the wine to be swirled, and more air can reach the wine. And there are different glasses for red wines, too:

• Bordeaux Glass: Merlot or cabernet sauvignon

• Burgundy Glass: Pinot noir

So, for red wines, the oxygen can help “open up” the wine, and the room allows you to enjoy the aroma and taste of the wine.

White Wine Glasses

White wine glasses have smaller bowls, and they’re taller. The reason for the u-shaped bowls is to allow the smell of the wine to enter the air around the wine glass. And the wine is kept cooler, too, thanks to the design.

Lighter tannins are in white wine due to the formation process, and older white wines ought to be poured into the tallest wine glass you can find.

And I’m not even mentioning rose glasses, color and thickness or the stem of the glass. There’s a reason why you’re served a specific glass for each wine type you try.

The next time you get a glass of wine, feel free to ask the server why a specific glass was chosen.

So, the next time you pull out a delicious merlot, remember to use your Bordeaux glass – you can thank me later.

And in the meantime, I’ll mull over joining the Wine Academy around the corner.