The Wine Bottle

You might wonder why there are so many different shapes and sizes of glasses on the market today. Not many people think that a drink can’t be changed very much by what it is drunk from? Well actually they can, and here is a breakdown of some of the most common glass types and how they affect the drink.

Whisky Glasses. The reason that whisky is most often drunk from a wide tumbler is an interesting one. Because whisky is often consumed ‘straight’ and not diluted with a mixer (although it can be), the volume of a serving is often quite small. The result of this means that if whisky was served over ice in a narrow and tall glass, the area of the drink in contact with the ice would be quite small as the ice would be stacked up the glass. As ice is necessary to chill the whisky and release its deeper flavors, it’s best to serve the drink in a wide shallow glass where the ice can move around and have more contact area with the liquid, thus chilling the whisky more.

Champagne Flutes.Champagne is traditionally served in a tall, thin flute and there is an interesting reason as to why. The bubbles in champagne contain quite a overpowering aroma that is forcefully released into the glass as the bubbles burst when the reach the surface. The sinuses are strongly effected by the gas and so the rim of the glass is kept narrow so that non of it enters the nose during the drinking process.

Red and White Wine Glasses. The shape of a red wine glass is more often than not large and round. What this means is that you can swish as swirl the wine about in the glass, breaking up the flavours and releasing more of them into the body of the wine.Further more, your nose can comfortably fit into the body of a wide glass, meaning you can breath in more of the wine’s aromatic offerings. Most people drink white wine out of a glass with smaller proportions and not so much of a bowl-shape. The reason for this is that white wine tastes better when the flavours are condensed in the glass and the aromas not absorbed so much via the nasal passage.

The amount of wine made every year is simply staggering. Every continent on earth has embraced it and sampled it from glass cups ever since they came about. Have you ever asked yourself though, why from a glass? Why not from a mug, wooden goblet or plastic cup? The answer may not exactly be what you expected. You will find in fact a number of different alternative materials used in various countries that wine is drunk from. For example in Japan, wine is drunk from a ceramic vase-shaped container and in Thailand, wooden cups are often used. However, the overriding choice of tableware drinking vessel, wherever you go, is glass. It turns out that this is due more to the unsuitability of other materials that the excellence of glass, so let take a look at the other options.

Wood. As mentioned previously, wine is drunk from wooden cups in some places but it does have some major flaws. Stains are the first major issue, which more often than not occur as a result of red wine drinking. Even if it is very hard wood, discolouring will occur. Secondly, there is the issue of rotting, which frequency happens when wood gets wet for a long time. So after each use, time would have to be spent drying it out and removing any moisture.

Metal. If you have ever drunk wine from a metal cup you will know it’s not the best experience ever. Metals have a large number of things called ions, and when most wines come into contact with it ‘displacement’ can happen. This means that when the wine comes into contact with the metal it absorbs a number of the ions and effects the flavour. This is why you often pick up metallic notes when drink from this type of cup. Also, because of its very heat-conductive qualities, almost any other material would keep the wine cooler when you’re holding it

Ceramic.  Like glass, ceramic is non porous, does not release any of its qualities into the wine, and can be easily cleaned with a glass cloth. For reasons like these, ceramic is a viable alternative, but it will never be number one. This is because, it is floored in a very basic way…its opaque. Admiring a wine’s colours and depth is a major part of any wine drinking experience. Since glass was first developed, we have had the very simple and instinctive desire for this.