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.

Tags: champagne glasses, shape, taste, whisky tumblers, wine glasses