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Wine Glasses: From Simple Vessels to Sophisticated Design

The first wine glasses are thought to have come out of early Rome, around the same time that blown glass first appeared in the Roman Empire, because Pliny the Elder (23–79 A.D.) wrote about glasses replacing gold and silver goblets during his lifetime, and also mentions that the glasses were often just as expensive. Glass objects were improved upon over the years since, but it wasn’t until the 1950’s that sophisticated wine-glass-making was considered.

ENTER SOPHISTICATED DESIGN

It was at this time that Austrian winemaker Claus Riedel began creating glasses that could send aroma and flavors to specific areas. He accomplished this through shaping the glasses a certain way, focusing on things like volume and rim diameter.

Let’s consider the rim of a glass; drinking from a narrow rimmed glass makes one throw back the head, directing the wine to a particular spot on the tongue. Even the design of the rim can affect the taste of the wine, a smooth rim will make for an even flow to the mouth, while a rolled rim can direct the wine to parts of the tongue that could make the wine taste sour. Because different wines taste better on different parts of the tongue, Riedel made unique glasses for different types of wines.

If you want a glass that will accentuate the aroma, opt for glasses that have a medium bowl and taper inward at the top. Some wine tasters say that white wine glasses should be eight to fourteen ounces, and red ones should be ten to sixteen ounces. Also, thin glasses are preferred since they affect the wine’s temperature less than thick ones.

A well made wine glass can be much more expensive than ordinary ones, but can greatly affect the taste to a seasoned wine taster. But you can’t go by price alone, sometimes thicker rims (thought to produce a sour taste) will be more expensive just because of the thicker rim, so it’s good to know about the kind of shape you’re looking for before shopping.

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