The World of Wine Glasses
Beautiful vessels for wine have adorned tables for tables for millennia - the Roman’s favoured a decorated cup with handles on either side, the Medieval aristocracy drank from decorated goblets and mid-century glassmakers experimented with all shapes and sizes. The glasses we drink from now have their origins in Venice around the 1400s, which was the glassblowing capital of the world and is still renown today.
Taking after the Medieval goblet - a bowl with a stem – these early wine glasses were very precious and delicate, it was actually the English in 1600s who developed an glass industry with a robust product; they used sea-coal rather than wood, which created a hotter furnace. This stronger, English glass was actually helped birth Champagne as we know it; the French glass bottles were shattering when being moved across the Channel and so the English started rebottled the sparkling wine, this bottling caught on and Champagne was able to be exported further afield.
Wine glasses are now a necessity to the table - although there was a moment in history (1700s) where they were brought to you by footmen for you to down, and hand back! - but mostly vessels for wine have been both practical as well as aesthetic; the wine glass stem continued to grow over the centuries to create elegance to the table and in elegance to the way we drink. When thinking about the tablescape, glasses add height and depth, and there are so many options available that they can also add colour and fun!
But of course, like all good things there is a purpose to the wine glass. The stem allows the wine to stay at a certain temperature and not get warm from your hand as you drink. The bowl of the wine glass assists in letting the wine breath so that the full flavours of the wine can be enjoyed. There is no right or wrong when it comes to which wine glass to use, especially as we think the art of hosting is all about making memories with the people you love, but here are some ideas, notes and some of our favourite glasses available at the moment.
Champagne
A sparkling wine is a great way to start a dinner party – a glass of Champagne and a some snacks to whet the appetite. Originally sparkling wine was served in a coupe, but the wide, flat shape does mean the bubbles go flat sooner hence the development of the flute. There is a slight issue with a narrow mouth of the flute, can build up the CO2 and create a slight sourness; it has become a recent trend to serve sparkling wine in white wine glasses. But a flute is a beautiful glass and there are so many styles to choose from to add drama to a table and, unless you are at a formal wine tasting, flutes are a wonderful option.
White Wine
A key person in the development of wine glasses is glassmaker Claus Reidel who, in the 1950s, experimented with different shaped glasses and wine with his friends – sounds like an excellent dinner party! He concluded that indeed the shape mattered and invented the “egg” design that we are all familiar with.
White wine glasses are smaller than red wine; white wine doesn’t need as much contact with the air to open up the aromas. If you wanted to be very specific you could serve a richer white wine in a glass with a wider bowl, as the contact with oxygen would release some of the deeper aromas.
Red Wine
This is where a lot more debate and research has gone into the right wine glass. A wide bowl creates more surface area, meaning that the wine has an increased contact to oxygen and the aromas are funnelled into your nose to be enjoyed as you sip.
There are distinct names for certain shapes for example the Bordeaux wine glass, which is designed for more full bodied wines, has a big bowl but is also fairly tall so that the aromas are directed to the back of the mouth. The Burgundy glass has a wider bowl for the more delicate red wines, such as a Pinot Noir, and the wine is able to hit the tip of your tongue.
Other glasses
And of course there are other wines that you might want to incorporate into your dinner – you would serve a sherry or port in a schooner possibly with some cheese. At the end of the meal a tipple of Congac – which is distilled grapes – is served in the very specific brandy glass to allow the aromas of the drink to ruminate in the glass and hit your nose as you sip.
