Types of Wine Glasses for Red's and Whites

Wine is for many an obsession and a passion. Prior to a few years ago all I knew is that it came in a few colors, red and white. It did not occur to me that there were literally thousands of variations of wine world wide. I am not even close to an expert. I'm a novice compared to most but the goal of this article is not to impress you with my nose or pallet for wine but to rather give you an idea of which wine glasses are best for certain wines and why. This is a basic introduction to what glasses to use for a red wine or a white wine. Why use a certain glass for certain wine? These are just a few questions I hope to answer.

Wine glasses come in many shapes and sizes. There are a variety of brand name glasses also. Some are made of glass, while others are made of crystal. The price range for glasses is as you would expect. Cheap glasses run a few bucks and the nicer hand blown wine glasses can reach up in the hundreds of dollars. Collecting fine wines and its accessories comes with a price.

Red wine is obviously very different then white wine and the glasses you pour it into look and feel different. There is a reason for the variation and size and shape. The bowl of the glass for reds is wider and allows bigger flavors in red wines to spread out. The wider the bowl the more air that is allowed to flow into the wine, which releases bold aromas and flavors that may otherwise go untasted. The opening of the wine glass for red wine also tends to be much wider because as we've all seen those people with a great nose like to dip there's into the bowl of the glass from time to time to pick up certain scents that compliment the taste of the wine.

White wine glasses are also designed to compliment the structure of the wine. Whites tend to be more delicate and their flavors a bit dante. The bowl of a white wine glass will tend to be a bit narrower. This helps keep the temperatures cool for longer periods of time. White wine is served cold unlike reds. The opening of the glass is also narrower which allows lighter aromas to pull through that may not do so in a different type of glass. Of course over time you will find that certain glasses will appeal to your taste and style of wines.

The basic idea is to chose the wine glass that is going to compliment the wine your drinking. If you want to refine the glass ware you use to work with each style of wine you can do that. I will not go into full detail as to which glass is used for which style of wine. The chart below gives you an idea of the look and shape of the glass and the wine it works best with.