Amateur Brain Surgery

Many people are completely unaware that there are significant design differences between glasses intended for Red Wines and glasses intended for White Wines. After having just glugged a bottle and a half of a particularly tasty Bordeaux I thought I’d explain why the glass chosen for your wine is important:

White wine glasses tend to have smaller bowls than red wine glasses. This is because white wine tends to be served chilled, whereas red is best served closer to room temperature. The smaller size of the white wine glass bowl will reduce the heating effect that the drinkers hand has upon the wine, helping it to stay cooler for longer.

Red wine glasses have characteristically wider bowls intended to encourage the wine to breath. Bordeaux glasses tend to be tall with a wide bowl that is excellent for full bodied wines like Merlot or Cabernet. Burgundy glasses will have a larger bowl. This doesn’t mean that they are intended to hold more wine (although they are particularly good for this). The larger bowl is intended to hold the aromas that are released by the wine into the glass. A large part of the taste and enjoyment of wine is actually experienced by olfaction. In other words, the smell gets up your nose.

So now you know a little about why there are glasses which are specifically intended for white wines and glasses which are specifically designed and suited for reds. Time to crack open a bottle or three and put the theory to the test…