Why are there different glasses for white and red wines?

Question

What are the differnces? (in the glasses) Besides it being ghetto fab. when you drink wine out of a cup does it alter the taste??

Answer 1

Primarily because it is more profitable to sell multiple glasses to wine lovers than just one glass.

You do not need different glasses.

White wine glasses are traditionally smaller than red wine glasses, the intention being that -- since white wine is chilled and soon warms up in the glass -- that the glass would be frequently refilled from the bottle in its icebucket.

You ask ifthe taste of wine is altered by the container it is consumed from. That is the $64,000 question. Most of us would say the experience of enjoying wine is enhanced by drinking it from a good wine glass, rather than from a polystyrene beaker or a coffee mug.

But is the taste actually altered? Ummm -- have you tried it yourself? I think user preception is all here.

Answer 2

The reason is that you want to open ( increase the air to wine contact) up a red wine while it is in the glass to enhance the nose of the wine.
Whites are not as greatly affected by the opening up of the wine.

And I personally cannot tell if the taste of the wine has been altered by placing it into a cup.

Answer 3

superb places would have the suitable glasses yet some places will purely have one wine glass that they use for something. A pink wine glass is larger than a white wine glass and the pour is regularly smaller (purely as lots wine in spite of the indisputable fact that it takes up much less area contained in the glass).

Answer 4

Part of drinking red wine is smelling the wine. When you sip red wine, your nose is generally able to fit inside the glass, and you can smell the wine.

You do not smell white wine, so it is put in a smaller glass for sipping.

Answer 5

There are a couple of distinct reasons that have to do with temperature, bouquet (smell), and taste.

First, temperature... Not so important with red wines since they're meant to be served at a cool room temperature. HOWEVER, whites and champagnes are supposed to be served cold. The champagne flute minimizes the surface area to volume ratio in order to eliminate as much heat transfer (warming) as possible. The white wine glass tries to balance the surface area to volume ratio against the need for a distinct shape that promotes bouquet (which is less than the red wines bouquet and... to be discussed next).

Second, the Bouquet (or smell)... a red wine glass and, to an extent, the white wine glass, are shaped in a manner to entrap the smell of the wine to promote better smell (and taste, which is tied closely to smell). The white wine and red wine both have distinctive qualities of their bouquets which influence the need for shape to the glass... and, again, the white wine has to concentrate more on staying cool than the red.

Finally, taste... The red wine generally contains a fair amount of tanins. Short of very good decanting, red wine glasses accomplish alot towards oxidizing the wine to mellow out the tanins and improve the flavor. White wines lack tanins (that's why they're less bitter) and therefore do not require much in the way of oxidation... again, surface area comes into play. Red wines need more surface area to oxidize faster, white wines don't call for oxidation so reducing surface area limits heating of the wine, and therefore the white wine glass is narrower.

To be truly picky, there are glasses specifically designed for each varietal of wine, but i can't justify having a different kind of glass for each type of wine on my rack... (could you imagine having 8 different types of glasses in enough quantity for yourself and guests... blegh). Most people just stick to a fairly standard and versatile combination of red and white glasses with a set of champagne flutes for good measure.

Answer 6

for the red wine, you can hold the cup from the upper side, because it is warm, as for the white wine glasses, they tend to be taller, as the temperature of your fingers will make it warm faster, so you not hold it from the upper part

Answer 7

there are different glasses because red and white wines need to breathe differently after they are poured

Answer 8

It has to do with the amount of airflow affecting the smell, and, of course the smell affects the flavor. But it is not noticable to most drinkers.

Answer 9

"ghetto fab"?

no, that is where they drink out of boxes