Wine glasses are designed to enhance the quality and pleasure of wine. The shape of the glass affects the scent and flavor of the wine, while the stem helps maintain the ideal temperature. Different styles of wine glasses are used for red, white, sparkling, and fortified wines.
Any glass used for drinking wine could be called a wine glass, but the term is more properly used for glasses used only for wine and designed to emphasize the quality of the wine and enhance the drinker’s pleasure. Each wine glass has a bowl, a stem and a foot.
The shape of the cup of the wine glass influences the scent of the wine, concentrating the aroma to increase the pleasure of the drinker by enhancing the flavor of the wine. The senses of smell and taste are closely related, and perception of one changes perception of the other. In general, the opening of a wine glass will be smaller than the widest part of the bowl.
The stem of the wine glass is important because it helps maintain the ideal temperature of the wine while it is being drunk. When a wine glass is held by the stem, warm fingers never touch the bowl, so the wine remains at its ideal serving temperature when drunk. This is important because the temperature of a wine changes its flavour. Stemless wine glasses are not favored by connoisseurs.
During a formal dinner, where a different wine is served with each course, the table will be set with many wine glasses in a variety of styles. There are four basic styles of wine glass, used for serving red wine, white wine, sparkling wine, and fortified or aromatic wine.
Red wine is served in a wine glass which has a wide, rounded bowl, giving the wine plenty of room to “breathe” and develop its full aroma and flavour. Burgundy glasses have wider bowls and are used for thin wines like Pinot Noir. Burgundy glasses are a bit smaller and taller and are suitable for full-bodied red wine.
White wine is served in a narrower glass with straight sides. The shape helps the chilled wine maintain its temperature. Sparkling wines are served in a champagne flute or champagne coupe, although the flute is more popular today. The coupe, a saucer-shaped stem glass, was first seen around 1660 in England. The flute is a stemmed wine glass with a very narrow, elongated bowl. This shape helps retain bubbles in sparkling wines.
Sherry and port, as well as liqueurs and aperitifs, are served in a tulip-shaped goblet. The narrow, tapered bowl increases the intensity of the wine’s aroma.
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