White wine glasses

White wine glasses: quality glasses to bring out the best in each wine

A white wine tasting will be successful if you pay attention to the shape of the glass, and more precisely to its bowl, the presence or absence of a stem, and the types of wine, such as grand cru (prestigious vintages) or white wines with a subtle bouquet.
Which wine glass should I choose for my white wine? It all depends on the type of white wine. There are three types:
Dry white wines, whose liveliness and freshness take precedence over the fruit. These are thirst-quenching wines with high acidity. The ideal glass to appreciate these dry whites will have a bowl and a fairly wide opening, allowing the white wine to arrive on the front of the tongue. Its volume will be around 35 cl. These light-bodied, low-alcohol wines will beautifully reveal citrus and vegetable aromas.
Round white wines, which are a balance between freshness, consistency and expression of aromas, will be served in glasses with a narrow opening, allowing the liquid to arrive on the middle of the tongue, so as to stimulate acidity. Their ideal volume will be close to 28 cl. These medium-acidity dry white wines are often made from Chardonnay and Meursault from Burgundy or California.
Sweet and dessert white wines. These white wines with a rather dry character contain residual sugars that were not transformed during the first fermentation. These wines give an impression of smoothness. They are classified according to their sugar content: semi-dry white wine, from 4 to 12 grams of sugar per litre of wine; sweet white wine, from 12 to 45 grams of sugar per litre of alcohol; dessert white wine, with more than 45 grams of sugar per litre of alcohol. In order not to accentuate the sugary impression, the glass chosen should have a tubular shape, with a narrow opening and a volume not exceeding 25 centilitres.
In conclusion, a white wine glass generally has a smaller volume than a red wine glass. The higher the sugar content, the more tube-shaped it should be and the smaller its volume. Young white wines, that is those less than 3 to 5 years old (with ageing potential) will improve in a glass with an angular inner bowl. The turbulence created by the angle when swirling the wine will allow the oxygenation required for the ageing of the white wine. A glass for a white wine for ageing will have a bowl with a seamless interior, such as a tulip or balloon-type glass.