How Well Do You Know Your Wine Glasses?
Did you know that not all wine glasses are created equal?
We don’t typically pay attention to the shape of our wine glasses, but if you want to take your consumption of wine to true connoisseur levels, then you should know the basic wine glass shapes and the wines they are made for. I personally drink my wine from a mug, so I’m not a role model, but there are at least 18 different types of wine glasses for different kinds of wine. See why I just stick with the mug?
Why so many?
The science behind the creation of a wineglass is all in the surface area. Red wine glasses are usually wider with a full bowl because they need to breathe, so the real flavour of the wine comes through even before you sip. They also prevent spills when this happens:
Because you can’t be a wine buff if you don’t swirl and sniff before you sip.
There are some red wines that go with a taller, slimmer glass, showing that the intricacies in wine glass difference can be as minute as a few inches. For example, the ‘burgundy’ glass was created to direct the wine to the tip of the tongue, where the delicate flavour of wines like Pinot Noir can be better perceived.
So, they essentially added some roundness to an already existing wine glass design just so their vintage could be ‘appreciated’ better. Capitalism, right?
Don’t let all the boujie wine talk intimidate you, though. Let me introduce you to the basic types of wine glasses that a beginner wine buff should at least know about.
Basic anatomy of a wine glass
What you need to know is that there are 3 parts to a wine glass: the base, the stem, and the bowl.
The base holds the glass, you hold the stem, and the bowl holds the wine. You need to keep this in mind because it’s the differences in these parts that set wine glasses apart from each other.
Red wine glasses
Red wine glasses are distinctive for their wide bowls and shorter stems, a design that’s just perfect for holding more of the good stuff. Apart from that, though, the bowl is wide to allow the flavours to be savoured by smell before tasting and to really open up the wine for breathing.
The Bordeaux wine glass is the most common red wine glass, though, so if you have one, you’re good.
White wine glasses
White wine is traditionally served chilled, so the glasses are more tapered, u-shaped with a pointy bowl bottom to preserve the temperature of the wine. The stems are long so that fingers don’t touch the bowl and cause the wine to warm up. There are more than four types of white wine glasses, but the Sauvignon Blanc glass is the most basic one a beginner should have.
It’s exactly like the ‘wine glass’ every Nigerian household had in the 2000s, so you’re probably already on the right track.
It also comes in handy for rosé wines too.
Champagne glasses
The most popular champagne glass is the traditional champagne flute, designed to keep the bubbles that carry the aroma and flavour of the champagne floating, for the fastest delivery to the tongue. This glass can also work for sparkling wine and fruit wines, in case you’re too broke for the real thing but want to impress.
Stemless wine glasses
Stemless wine glasses are a modern take on the wine glass-without the stem. They are practical, modern and definitely stylish. Apart from the tendency of the hands to warm up the wine glass, there’s really no argument against using stemless glasses. At the end of the day, it boils down to tradition versus modern preferences. Real wine people would probably be scandalised if you hold the glass by the bowl, but the end result is the same, right?
