Wine Glass Shapes

Wine Glass Shapes

The shape of the glass very important when comes to wine. Specifically designed glasses are available that are suitable to show the wine qualities such as the aroma and look.  It’s been said, that the shape of the glass directs the wine itself into the best area of the mouth from the varietal. In general, the wine glass opening should not be wider than the widest part of the bowl.
Usually wine glasses have stems in order to prevent fingerprints from smearing the glass. It was used to believe that the stem was to prevent body heat from warming the wine, but this is just a myth. Now, a new trend in wine glasses appears the 'stem-less' wine glass in a variety of shapes and sizes. Stem-less glasses are now used for casual occasions in many places, as they oppose the advantages of using stemmed wine glasses.
With exclusion to the wine connoisseur, wine glasses are divided into three types: red wine glasses, white wine glasses, and champagne flutes.

Red Wine Glasses

Red wine glasses are characterised by their rounder wider bowl, and are designed in that way in order to increases the rate of oxidisation. The chemical interaction of the wine and oxygen from the air subtly altered the wine’s flavor and aroma. The oxidization process is mainly compatible with red wines, whose compound flavors are smoothed out when exposed to air. Red wine glasses usually have specific styles of their own, such as:

Bordeaux glass: tall with a broad bowl. This type of glass is designed for full bodied red wines such as Merlot and Cabernet as it straight directs wine to the back of the mouth.
Burgundy glass: broader than the Bordeaux glass, with a bigger bowl to accumulate aromas of more delicate red wines such as Pinot Noir. This style of wine glass is designed with such way to direct wine to the tip of the tongue.

White wine glasses

White wine glasses have various shapes and sizes.  Different shapes of white wine glasses are used to emphasise the exclusive characteristics of diverse variety of white wines styles. Wide mouthed wine glasses are used to function similar to red wine glasses allowing the rapid oxidization of the wine which alters the wine’s flavor and aroma. In order to preserve a chilled clean flavor, most white wine glasses have a smaller mouth, which decreases the surface area. For sparkling white wine such as Champagne smaller mouth is being used in order to keep the wine sparkling longer.

Champagne flutes

Champagne flutes are wine glasses characterised by their long stem with a tall thin bowl on top. The reason behind this glass shape is to keep sparkling wine longer. The glass is specifically designed to be held by the stem, preventing from hand heat to warm the sparkling wine or champagne. Furthermore the flute glass design adds to the aesthetic appeal of champagne, as it allows the sparkling bubbles to travel further due to the narrow design.