The Wine Fact Center

You might wonder why there are so many different shapes and sizes of glasses on the market today. To the uninitiated the variety may seem a little unnecessary, surely they can’t change the flavor of the liquid they hold can they? Well actually they can, and here is a breakdown of some of the most common glass types and how they affect the drink.

Whisky Glasses. There is a very good reason why people consume whisky from large-diameter glasses rather than the tall thin variety. Although mixers are sometimes added to a whisky drink, it is still frequently enjoyed straight and therefore in smaller volumes. The result of this means that if whisky was served over ice in a narrow and tall glass, the area of the drink in contact with the ice would be quite small as the ice would be stacked up the glass. As ice is necessary to chill the whisky and release its deeper flavors, it’s best to serve the drink in a wide shallow glass where the ice can move around and have more contact area with the liquid, thus chilling the whisky more.

Champagne Glasses.This type of wine is served in long thin glasses and again there is a good reason for it. The sparkling nature of champagne means that it gives off a gas when the bubbles reach the surface and burst. If the glass was wider then your nose would enter the glass when drinking and the gas would enter the sinuses, having a negative effect on the flavor.

White and Red Wine Glasses. The shape of a red wine glass is more often than not large and round. What this means is that you can swish as swirl the wine about in the glass, breaking up the flavours and releasing more of them into the body of the wine.  Also a wide glass means your whole nose can easily fit within it, which is important for soaking up all the rich aromas. White wine glasses are generally smaller and thinner. This is because you want to keep the flavors quite compacted in the glass and absorb more of the aroma of white wine through the mouth rather than the nose.