Red Vs White Wine Glasses

Take a sip of wine from a quality glass, and you'll notice flavors, aromas, and even colors that would escape you if the same wine sat in a plastic cup. Though many practical wine lovers have one mid-sized glass at home for reds, whites, and roses, glasses come in an array of shapes and sizes to complement the characteristics of particular wines. The basic glass types are:

• Red Wine Glasses: Red wines are generally served at room temperature, often allowed to "breathe" in a carafe before serving to improve flavor and depth. A red wine glass tends to be fairly bulbous and short, with broad bowls and narrower lips, in order to trap aromas while giving the wine plenty of space to spread out and breathe. The glasses are designed to be held by the bowl rather than the stem.


• White Wine Glasses: Most whites (and many roses) are served chilled. White wine glasses are taller and slimmer, with longer stems and narrower bowls. Holding the glass by the stem keeps the wine colder for longer, since body heat from your hand doesn't directly contact the vessel. The taller, slimmer shape protects the delicate flavors of whites from exposure to too much air while keeping a chill for longer.


• Champagne Flutes: Designed for sparkling wines, which are carbonated to contain delicate flavors and effervescent bubbles, flutes are tall and slim with long stems. Most hold 6.5 ounces or more. The design traps more bubbles and keeps delicate flavors protected from the air.


• Stemless Wine Glasses: In the last two decades, stemless wine glasses have become popular. These glasses take a range of shapes designed specifically for reds or whites. Most keep the traditional rounded bowl shape, but sit on a flat bottom rather than being elevated by a stem. These glasses must be held by the bowl, and so may not be ideal for chilled wines.

Other Factors to Consider

In addition to shape, color also affects the wine drinking experience. According to the acclaimed Wine Spectator magazine, "the clearer the glass, the richer the wine's color." Glasses with thinner rims also distract less from the flavor of the wine as it slips over the lip into your mouth.

Specialty glass sellers often have extensive lines of glasses designed for particular grapes or varieties. Tall, smaller-bowled Bordeaux-style glasses and squat wide Burgundy-style glasses are both red wine glasses, for example. Despite the near-endless variety, a single mid-range glass can work well for most wines in a home setting.  http://ezinearticles.com/?Red-Vs-White-Wine-Glasses&id=7645906