How to Choose a Wine Glass

Get the right glass for the right wine!

You may not think that you need to worry too much about how to choose a wine glass. After all, wine is just there to be drunk, isn’t it? But, the fact is that your choice of wine glass can have a very significant impact on the quality and taste of the wine that you drink from it. With this in mind, choosing the right wine glass is key to getting the most enjoyment out of your wine!

So, let’s take a look at how a wine glass can affect the wine you drink. The first issue here is the size of the wine glass that you use. Some wine experts believe that size is unimportant here – however, others disagree and prefer to use different sized glasses according to the kind of wine that they are drinking. In some cases you can even buy glasses that are shaped to accommodate the way that you should taste a particular type of wine. This is all based on the taste receptors in your mouth so the wine glass types here will be designed to make sure that they guide the wine to the part of your mouth that will enjoy it the most!

As a general rule, a lot of experts recommend drinking wine from a large glass rather than a small one. This is actually quite logical. The larger your wine glass is, the more the wine will be interacting with the air around it. It is this interaction with air that makes sure that you get the best bouquet from the wine that you drink and this is a vital part of enjoying wine – so a large glass may suit you best of all.

You’ll notice in fact, that a lot of wine glass designs on the market have a round bowl for a base and that they curve in at the top. This makes sure that flavor and aroma are released by contact with surrounding air but also makes sure that the wine glass holds in as much of the bouquet as possible.

On the other hand, if you are drinking champagne, then you will usually be looking at using flutes for your wine glass here. These types of wine glass are slim and often curve in at the top too – their very design makes sure that the fizz stays in the champagne for as long as possible. So, a big round glass here just won’t work as well.

The materials used to make wine glasses vary – from plastic to lead crystal! A lot of people like to use crystal or at least clear glasses as this really can enhance the way that the wine looks even before you drink it! To be honest, the decision you make here will often be made on personal taste so if you get a lot of pleasure out of a non-standard wine glass design then go for it. It’ll make the wine taste better if you’re happy with the design as well!