Why are glasses for red wine and white wine shaped differently?

Question

Is it a huge faux pas to ignore this rule?

Answer 1

Forget all the 'releasing aromas differently' crap.
The average palette cannot tell the subtle differences between 2 wines of a similar quality. It's mostly 'wine' snobbery. If it is a good tasting wine it will taste good in any glass.

Answer 2

Actually, even the most beginners of wine drinkers can tell the difference between a wine in an awful glass and a wine in a great glass. It is REALLY amazing what a difference there is. I don't work for a wine glass company either :) I've just seen this done many, many times at wine festivals.

Here's the thing. Your tongue can only taste sweet, sour, bitter, salty. *Everything* else you sense in a wine comes from your nose. It's all smell! The buttery, the spicy, the raspberry, everything is a smell. So the entire experience of a wine is about how you smell it.

OK, so what affects a wine's smell? Well, the container that holds the smell. If you had a wine glass that was shaped like a crayon, tall and really thin, you wouldn't smell anything at all. There wouldn't be any air there to smell. On the other hand, say you poured the wine onto a flat plate. Now there'd be lots of wine having surface contact with the air, but it would all float away from your nose. You wouldn't smell anything. So it's a middle ground you're aiming for.

So definitely, over the years, they find that some glass shapes bring out the buttery flavors of some wines, other glass shapes bring out the rich flavors of some wines and so on. You can literally pour the exact same wine into 4 different glass shapes and then smell different flavors based on that shape. It's easy enough to experiment with. Grab 4 different glasses off your shelf (even if they aren't wine glasses) and try for yourself. It does make a difference. And, if you're going to drink wine, why not have it taste good? If you're going to save money by paying $9.99 for a bottle of wine, and it can taste twice as good with a good glass, that actually "saves you money" by doing that.

So in short I really recommend you spend the $5 or $10 or whatever to at least get 2 red glasses and 2 white glasses from your home. Think of it as doubling the flavor of your wine, so if you buy $9.99 wines, it's like buying $19.99 wines as far as the flavor goes. To me that's an incredible investment.

Lisa Shea
http://www.WineIntro.com

Answer 3

It's a faux pas if you're hosting a wine tasting. Other than that, use white wine glasses for both if you want to buy just one set. Just put less red wine in those glasses--maybe a third full.

But chances are that your friends aren't snobby and they're having a wonderful time at your place even if your glasses are plastic beer cups. Enjoy entertaining!

Answer 4

For white wines, the tall bowl of the glass highlights the aromas,
while the narrow design delivers the wine to the center of the tongue,
squarely between the sweet taste buds in the front and the bitter ones
near the back.

The glasses designed for red wines tend to have larger bowls so that
there is more surface area for the wine to release the bouquet. The
rim of the glass is flared slightly so that the front of the palate
can enjoy the sweet fruit flavor.


I guess it's more about the taste but I don't think people will really notice unless they know a lot about wine,etc.

Answer 5

Red wines need to "Breathe" so the tops of Red wine glasses are either straight up, or slightly curved out to let air mix with the wine. White wine glasses on the other and are generally tapered in to keep air out. The main rule that you really need to follow, is when serving red wine, open the bottle to let it "Breathe" at least 30 minutes prior to serving for best flavor. Or pour it into a carafe to quicken the process. Saloute!

Answer 6

The different shapes are used to capture the different aromas. The red wine has a more bold smell,so the bottom of the glass is broader. The white wine has more delicate aromas, so a smaller glass is used to concentrate the aroma.

Answer 7

Red wine and white wine are different in many different ways. Some people just prefer to drink out of one type of glass, even if they're drinking red and white wine with their meal.

The different glasses are shaped to complement the wine, but really it's up to the way you want to drink your wine.

It's your choice

Answer 8

What if you just drank it straight from the bottle? Now that would solve the etiquette problem! Once folks see that, they won't expect much from you let alone want you know which glass is for what wine!

Answer 9

Red wine you swish around so it need more room

Answer 10

so blind people know what color wine they are drinking?!