Why Are Wine Glasses So Fragile?
The truth is that they don’t make glasses intentionally fragile. The main point of a wine glass is to create something that enhances the wine it holds in every possible way; unfortunately, the cost is also a glass that breaks more easily.
The Reason for a Thin Bowl
A thin bowl allows for more volume inside the glass so that the wine can aerate as well as giving space for the bouquet to accumulate.
The bowl’s thinner walls also give better clarity and refractive index, allowing for the color of the wine to be seen more accurately.
Additionally, a thinner bowl will both transfer and absorb less heat from the wine keeping the temperature of the wine stable so that the glass isn’t affecting the flavor.
Along with a thin bowl comes a thin rim; this is helpful because the thinner the rim of the glass, the less it will interfere with your perception of the wine. You see, glass does have a taste, and your tongue notices its presence as well as its temperature. No matter how minute the effect might be, you get a more genuine taste for the wine by making the rim as thin as possible.
The Reason for a Thin Stem
The stem is a very fragile part of any wine glass, especially where they connect to the bowl and stem, but they play a very important role. The stem is needed to keep fingerprints off of the bowl, it keeps your hand from warming the wine, and it allows you to easily swirl the wine so that you can aerate it and inspect the legs.
