The shape of a wine glass.
A wine glass often looks nice and fancy. But why does a wine glass look the way it does? Can’t you just as easily drink wine from a “normal” glass?
Believe it or not, but there is actually a science behind the shape of a wine glass.
2 simple and logical goals
Before we get into the why of a wine glass’ shape, we have to go back to the basics. To understand why a glass looks the way it does, we must first understand the purpose of the wine glass itself.
A wine glass has two basic goals in addition to its simple function as a glass: the release of aroma’s and the preservation of aroma’s.
This may sound a bit controversial, but in the end it’s pretty straight forward. First you want to be able to easily “move” the wine in the glass so that it releases the aroma’s faster, and at the same time you want these aroma’s to be “retained” in your glass so that you can evaluate them properly and enjoy them optimally!
The end justifies the means
Although there are many different sizes within the wine-glass realm, the basic shape is virtually the same for each of them: a broad base attached to a somewhat long “stem” and a “bowl” attached to the stem, carrying the wine, which is wider at the base than at the top.
If we understand the purpose of the wineglass, we understand why the ‘bowl’ is wider at the bottom than at the top. This is to preserve the aroma’s in the glass, while simultaneously useful to help you not spill your wine when you “move” it through the glass.
The stem of the glass is also actually very important. You might think it just looks cool, but the purpose of the stem is very logical. Wine is very sensitive to temperature and a slight increase or decrease in temperature can have a big influence on the taste. Because our hands emit a lot of heat, holding the “bowl” of the glass can raise the temperature just enough to influence the taste!
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Save water, drink wine.
Wizz
