Dear Wine Geometrists,
The main tool to wine tasting is the glass, isn't it? So it is of utmost importance in tasting,and we must choose our glass very carefully...
It is he who contributes to DIFFUSE the aromas, and CONCENTRATE them towards your nose.
This sentence is essential to understand.
1 / the glass should "DIFFUSE", which means it must be able to oxygenate the wine ... and therefore be "wide enough" to allow this oxygenation
2 / the glass should CONCENTRATE the aromas, so its opening must be "sufficiently narrow" to do this concentration.
In summary: A "sufficiently wide" glass, with a "sufficiently narrow" opening, is the key.
This ratio [glass diameter] / [opening diameter] was highlighted by Jules Chauvet.
In such a glass, it has been proven that 5cl of wine should be poured to have the ideal balance of diffusion and concentration for the nose. Here are the full dimensions if you're looking to buy some glasses soon!
- Opening diameter: 46 mm
- Height of the flask: 100 mm
- Foot height: 55 mm
- Ball diameter: 65 mm
- Diameter of the stem: 9 mm
- Base diameter: 65 mm
But there is a threshold beyond which the glass is no longer as effective: if the opening is really too narrow in relation to the diameter of the glass, it retains the aromas instead.
Long story short, what does the ideal glass look like?
It has a "balanced" tulip shape: broad bottom, narrow opening.
But then again, that depends on the type of wine... If you're drinking champagne, for example, you don't need such a wide then narrow glass... "bubbly" has different aspects it needs to cover to be ideal, so it will look longer and thinner.
