Does The Shape Of The Wine Glass Really Matter?
The glass’s shape plays a critical role in how you perceive the wine’s flavors and aroma. The shape affects aeration, how the aroma is gathered and directed, and where the glass will deliver the wine on the tongue.
Red Wine Glasses are designed for good aeration. That is because aeration will mature a younger light red wine. It will also muddle the bitterness of a bold red that is high in tannins and will round out any spice. Giving a balanced profile while fully opening up the natural bouquet.
White Wine Glasses are generally built in two different styles. One with a narrow bowl and rim that preserves temperature, reduces acidity, and brings forward fruitier aromas and flavors. And a second style with a wide bowl and rim that allows for good aeration, so the multiple layers of a bold white can be easily detected without becoming over-concentrated.
Glasses for Port and Dessert Wines are small and narrow because these have a much higher alcohol content than traditional wines. The small bowl means a smaller pour, and the narrow profile means that strong aromas won’t gather and overpower the drinker.
Sparkling Wine Glasses are long and narrow. They need a wide bowl for aeration, nor do they need a wide rim because they are not traditionally bold wines. They need a long thin bowl that preserves, displays, and gives the bubbles lots of wine to rise through.
Optimal Shapes For A Red Wine Glass
Young or Light-Bodied Red Wines
This is the Optimal Shape For a Young or Light-Bodied Red Wine.
The wide bowl allows the wine a lot of surface area to aerate and mature while offering the ability for an easy, deep swirl, bringing out more flavors and aromas.
Then, the bowl’s large capacity allows room for the aroma to gather and intensify until they hit that very narrow rim where they are squeezed together. Strengthening them further and directing them straight up to the drinker’s nose.
Medium-Bodied Red Wines
This is the Optimal Shape For a Medium-Bodied Red Wine. It is also an extremely versatile glass that can handle any red wine, making it a great universal glass.
As you can see, the bowl is not as wide because these wines are a bit more mature than a young red, and they are not as high in tannins as a bold red, so they don’t need as much aeration.
They do still have a more narrow rim though; this is because you don’t have the concern of being overwhelmed with aroma as you might with a bolder red.
So this narrow rim helps gather and concentrate the bouquet and then direct it up to the drinker’s nose.
Bold, Complex, Full-Bodied Red Wines
This is the Optimal Shape for a Bold, Complex, Full-Bodied Red Wine. It can be hard to tell scale from this photo, but these glasses are the tallest of the bunch and are quite wide.
The large bowl allows the bouquet to fully open up while smoothing out some of the rougher edges.
The bowl is also tall, which allows for a deep swirl that will aerate the wine and emphasize the fruit while dampening some of the more bitter tannins, creating a good balance in the wine.
You’ll notice that the rim on this glass is not as narrow as the others; that is because these wines are potent, so allowing in more air actually helps to soften the vapors so that you don’t become overwhelmed when nosing.
Optimal Shapes For A White Wine Glass
Young, Light-Bodied, or Sweet White Wines
This is the Optimal Shape For a Young, Light-Bodied, or Sweet White Wine. It is also an extremely versatile glass that can handle any white wine with grace.
The thinner bowl helps preserve your wine’s cooler temperature while balancing the higher acidity and bringing forward the sweet and fruity aroma.
Bold, Oaked, Creamy, or Full-Bodied White Wines
This is the Optimal Shape for a Bold, Oaked, Creamy, or Full-Bodied White Wine.
The wide bowl helps to aerate the wine allowing the bouquet of a complex, full-bodied white to really open up, allowing the drinker to detect multiple layers and a diverse range of aromas.
The wide rim gives good aeration and ensures that bolder wines don’t overwhelm the drinker when nosing them.
Optimal Shape For A Rosé Wine Glass
Rosé
This is the Optimal Shape for a Rosé Wine. The slightly widened bowl allows for light swirling and aeration so that the bouquet can fully open up.
The tapering in at the middle enhances the wine’s fruity flavors and tampers some of the natural acidity.
While the narrow rim squeezes those fruity aromas together, strengthening their profile and then directing those aromas up to the drinker’s nose.
Optimal Shape For A Port or Dessert Wine
Port or Dessert Wines
This is the Optimal Shape for a Port or Dessert Wine.
This glass is much smaller and narrower than a traditional wine glass, but it perfectly highlights the rich fruit and sweetness that port and dessert wines are known for.
It is also small and narrow because a port wine is much higher in alcohol content than normal wine. Because of this, you don’t want a wide bowl that would aerate the wine and require a giant pour.
You want a small glass with a small pour and a narrow profile so that those strong aromas can’t gather together enough to overwhelm the drinker.
Optimal Shape For A Sparkling Wine
Champagne or Sparkling Wines
This shape is used for sparkling wines because its thin profile perfectly preserves and displays its bubbles.
You don’t need to aerate a sparkling wine, so you don’t need a large bowl, and the aroma isn’t bold enough to require a wide rim. So this shape is used because it preserves the bubbles.
It also has a very long, deep bowl that gives the bubbles plenty of wine to rise through, giving a better visual experience.
