Why Is That We Only Really Drink Wine Out Of Glasses
The amount of wine made every year is simply staggering. It has been enjoyed all over the world for thousands of years and the cup of choice is almost always the glass. The question is however, why do we use glass? Why not from a mug, wooden goblet or plastic cup? The answer may not exactly be what you expected. You will find in fact a number of different alternative materials used in various countries that wine is drunk from. For example, wooden cups are used in Thailand and in Japan they often drink their wine from a ceramic vase-like cup. However, the overriding choice of tableware drinking vessel, wherever you go, is glass. It turns out that this is due more to the unsuitability of other materials that the excellence of glass, so let take a look at the other options.
Wood. As mentioned previously, wine is drunk from wooden cups in some places but it does have some major flaws. Stains are the first major issue, which more often than not occur as a result of red wine drinking. Even the less porous harder woods fall victim to this fate before long. Secondly, when wood is in contact with liquid from prolonged periods it starts to rot. So you would have to spend time making sure it was bone dry after using each time.
Metal. If you have ever drunk wine from a metal cup you will know it’s not the best experience ever. something called ‘displacement’ takes place with lots of wines as a result of the high ion count in most metals. This means that when the wine comes into contact with the metal it absorbs a number of the ions and effects the flavour. This is why you often pick up metallic notes when drink from this type of cup. Also, because of its very heat-conductive qualities, almost any other material would keep the wine cooler when you’re holding it
Ceramic. Like glass, ceramic is non porous, does not release any of its qualities into the wine, and can be easily cleaned with a glass cloth. For these reasons it utilised an an alternative, however it will never be as popular as glass due to one elemental floor – you can’t see through it. A large part of the experience of enjoying a fine wine is watching it swirl around the glass, admiring its body. Since glass was first developed, we have had the very simple and instinctive desire for this.
