Why Do We Need Different Types of Wine Glasses?

First of all, does it really matter out of which glass you drink your wine? Well actually, you’re damn right it does. There are many functional reasons for the different shapes and sizes of your wine glasses, with each of them designed to enhance the aroma and taste of their corresponding varietal.

However, choosing the right glass for your wine isn’t as easy as it sounds. A wine glass must meet three criteria for proper tasting: look, nose and palate. In other words, the wine glass should let the taster clearly see the wine’s colour, allow the wine’s different aromas to be released and reveal all its flavours when tasted in the mouth. Depending on the type of wine, its colour and its region, the right glass can sometimes be completely wrong. 

Red wine glasses should have a bigger bowl in order to appreciate the wine’s aroma. The shape should be wide at the bottom and slightly narrower at the top. However, there is a minutiae of details here too, as the shape of the red wine glass varies according to the region – what works for Bordeaux might not for Burgundy. Then, you need to think about how best to serve your white wines too. Here we like to opt for smaller, thinner glasses than for reds. These should be narrower at the top; white wine benefits from the concentration of aromas kept in by the smaller opening. 

Finally, we want whatever glassware on our table to look as good as the wine inside tastes. The best glasses balance these very practical concerns with our almost equally important demand for something that looks (and feels) good when you’re holding it. If you can manage to get a glass that is the right shape plus looks like a million bucks, then you’re golden.