Wine glass

A wine glass is a special drinking vessel made of glass, which is used only for wine.

Early drinking vessels, which often served only a particular purpose are, for example, from Ancient Egypt survived for the period 2660-2160 BC. The wine glasses shape and design were determined through the centuries by the possibilities of glass making tradition and the contemporary taste, and, from the 18th century by the refined dining culture. Only at the beginning of the 20th century drew questions about the physiology of drinking wine in the foreground, connected to the shapes of the glasses.

Dining culture at 18-19. century

With the growing demands of developing in the 18th century dining culture and the decorative design of wine glasses came to ever greater importance. The derived jewelry need of broad strata of the population continued until the mid- 1920s and was reflected in a wide range of table sets and single SERVICEN for certain drinks down. Wine glasses were artfully painted, polished, engraved, etched and gilded. With the Art Deco then also discussed since the turn of the century end forms translated by final and decors were obsolete.

Glass design in the 20th century

A wine glass is made from the chalice ( cuppa ), so the upper part, in which the wine is poured, from the stem and from one foot to park. Prevents a long stem, that the wine warmed by the hand. The shape of the calyx has influence on what taste buds of wine responsive amplified and if so, the sense of taste is more influenced by the acid from the fruit glaze or by the sweetness after the experience of the wine tasting.

One of the first that dealt with the questions of the function of the glass, by the interplay of glass and character of the wine, was the Austrian entrepreneur and glass designer Claus Josef Riedel ( 1925-2004 ). At first he was ridiculed, but with time it has been recognized by that glasses, as they had been used previously, were hardly likely to bring fine wines to their best advantage. Today's creative principles of the glass designs are largely based on his findings and designs. The revolutionary glass series " sommelier " is the best known among his aesthetic long-handled, very thin and fragile looking glass creations.

Clear and colorless glass with a smooth surface creates the conditions for reliable appraisal of color and clarity of the wine. Cuts and engravings affect disruptive; at most small labels are acceptable.

Flower-shaped glasses are particularly suitable for sparkling wines, because the foam on the thin and relatively high walls built well. Contrast, white wines need a apple shaped glass with a slightly narrowed opening. The nose remains in the glass and is better absorbed by the nose. Red wines require with their lush aromas of a larger bulbous cup with a relatively large opening; it ensures that the wine distributed while drinking in the entire oral cavity. The sweet, drunk in small quantities Dessert wines come in a rather small cup to best advantage; their taste is thereby perceived particularly on the tongue tip.

Glasses for tasting and professional tasting

A special place among the glasses take on the sample vials. These colorless, standardized according to ISO 3591 wine - tasting glasses like small white wine glasses or sherry glasses. As before, but you can see even the little " wine tasting cups " with printed patterns; they are popular souvenir and collector's item. For quantities of 0.1 and 0.05 liters of a sufficient standard bottle ( 0.7 or 0.75 liters) for seven or 15 equal-sized sample portions.

Special wine glasses are also available for the tasting, so the evaluation of the characteristics of a wine such as Clarity, color, viscosity, odor, flavor, acidity, body, aroma, bouquet and age. The most famous of the glasses used for this purpose is of French origin and is named l' Impitoyable, the Incorruptible. The calyx of this glass is tightly closed and pointed focus, resulting in the odorants of wine specifically in the nose. Thus, the expert can detect even the smallest wine faults.

Dealing with wine and glasses

Wine glasses should be no more than half full. Therefore, it is advisable to have, for example, in restaurants the wine into a jug or even better served in a carafe. The bouquet can flourish only in a glass in which enough air space above the wine level.

In assessing the content of the glass is tilted, ie mixed with a light circular motion around the vertical motion in order to let the wine wet the free inner surface of the calyx. At this ablüftenden glass area is then the odor impression that accommodates the nose. Too full glass has too little of this clear glass surface, which distorts " nose impression ". Because of its open-pored material properties offers lead crystal wine from the outset a greater wetting surface and makes him stronger than with crystal glasses on the glass wall stick. This plays for the perception through the nose a significant role, because the wine evaporates intensively on the glass wall of a lead crystal glass.

Also the glass edge is attributed to a certain influence on the taste experience; it should be ground thin and perfect, not too thick or rounded ( rolled edge ). The optimal edge ensures that the wine wets the surface of the tongue quickly and evenly. It also helps to dispense the wine in small sips as possible.

In addition, the wine glass should not touch the belly, but only on the stem, so that the temperature of the wine is not raised by the hand of heat. The jars should have roughly the temperature that is right for the wine, that is 8 to 10 ° C for white wine, and 15 to 17 ° C for red wine. The wall should be straight so thick that different temperatures of the wine glass have no appreciable influence on the wine. Otherwise, the wine is either too hot, or the lens from fogging up, so that the optical basis for assessing suffering.

Drinking sparkling wines should be abandoned in shallow trays commonly used, because the carbonic acid escapes too quickly because of the large liquid surface. Another, often neglected aspect is the targeted bubbles in this context. To this end, with champagne and champagne glasses in production deliberately a small error, the so-called effervescence generated on the inside. The carbon dioxide bubbles settle on the molded- point or a sharpened point away from the central axis and rise as string of fine bubbles.

Production

Wine glasses are nowadays mostly by machine.

Blow molding in an end- sealed, heated to the molding temperature of the glass tube is carried out in a divisible mold and the mold filled with compressed air pressure at the cold end of the pipe from the inside, is inflated. The wall thickness decreases with increasing diameter in this case, because the volume or the mass of molten glass is constant. The form is divided, the hot, machine- blown glass is removed. The remaining upper balloon is dawned and knocked around by scoring. The sharp edge from chipping is remelted and then deburred.

This machine production technology is zuallermeist recognizable by their longitudinal seams along the stem and foot; usually only in the cup area / field of view, the wall thickness of the seam is evened out by a Nachschmelze.

Technically a wine glass is produced as by pressure and bubbles, but of a glassblower at the so-called blowpipe. Without a mold for the outer contour, it is up to the skill and experience of the glassblower to form the calyx of a targeted heating and the pressure build-up by mouth. This manufacturing technique of mouth - blowing is much more complex and generates more committee. Therefore, hand-blown glasses are much more expensive. Likewise, the material input costs play a major role: The usual lead-crystal glasses are already for material recovery considerably more complex.

Wine glasses are manufactured by many companies. Prices range from a few cents up to about 150, - Euro for a Sommeliers wine glass as a one-off production.