Curious about a glass of wine

Sooo, I will preface my question by saying I don't drink much of anything alcoholic very often. I have had a wine appreciation class, so I'm not totally uninformed.

How much wine should reasonably be in "a glass of wine" in an upscale white-tablecloth type of place? I certainly know the wine needs room to breathe and swirl, so not up to the rim, duh. But less than the half-way point in the glass? Not an oversized glass, either. Normal, proper stemware.

5-6 oz. Figure 4 glass per bottle. I was taught that most wine glasses begin to taper inward at right about the point where a serving stops. This actually seems to work most of the time.

It depends a lot on the type of wine as well as the type of glass. White wine glasses are typically much smaller while some Burgundy glasses are huge. A red wine needs more headspace to breathe as well as more time to breathe. A typical red wines glass would be filled 1/3 to 1/2 full depending on the factors mentioned above. A typical white wine glass would be filled a bit more and a sparkling wine glass would be filled 3/4+ since they really don't need to breathe.

Here's an interesting web page regarding the subject of wine glasses: Wine Glasses

Leah,


Normally 6oz......4.5 glasses per 750 Bottle

Wine glasses vary in size

I like to use a 21oz Bordeaux Glass....It looks good and works well with all wine.....

Some people think we under pour......but wine drinkers usually know why the large glass.....

I just like the way it looks

Tommy

[Robin Garr]

Adding a few thoughts: As many have said, a standard serving of wine is 5-6 ounces, or four or five glasses from a 750 ml bottle. For "proper" service, with plenty of room to swirl the wine AND to accumulate the aromas, this pour should go into a 10 or 12 ounce glass, minimum, large enough that the pour is well under half of a glass. When you look at your pour, you should really look at the amount of wine in the glass, not whether it fills the glass.

Wine-list pricing, by the way, is generally done on the basis that one glass is one-fourth of a bottle price, which is quite fair with a 6-ounce pour, reasonably fair with a 5-ounce pour.

The problem comes in at less "wine-geek" restaurants, where people view a glass of wine as a drink, not a tasting experience, and feel that they're being shafted if their glass doesn't look full. This doesn't really make sense (see above), but it's so prevalent that a lot of eateries where wine isn't a big part of the draw will simply use smaller glasses and fill them to the top. Which isn't really the right way to do it, but it may deter complaints.

Adding a few thoughts: For "proper" service, with plenty of room to swirl the wine AND to accumulate the aromas, this pour should go into a 10 or 12 ounce glass, minimum, large enough that the pour is well under half of a glass.

Just for clarification...is this half a glass rule before you add the ice or after ?

[Robin Garr]

Just for clarification...is this half a glass rule before you add the ice or after ?

I have thought long and hard about this, and determined that it is one of those "if you have to ask ... " type of questions ...

Odd thought just popped into my head.

I like graduated beer glassware. In some (all?) places in Europe it is mandatory. I have never seen a graduated wine glass so I assume it isnt required. Why not?

An etch at the 6 ounce mark would solve the problem, both of pourers knowing how much to pour and the complaints Robin mentioned.

Thinking back on it, and playing around with some similar glasses here at home, I'm estimating that I probably got a 5 oz pour in a 12 oz glass, so within the normal range. Just looked kinda skimpy.

Thinking back on it, and playing around with some similar glasses here at home, I'm estimating that I probably got a 5 oz pour in a 12 oz glass, so within the normal range. Just looked kinda skimpy.

Or you could be like my neighbor who sticks a straw in her box of Inglenook Merlot....totally
bypassing the glass thing.....

We get the skimpy pour complaint about once a month. We serve a full six ounce portion if ordered by the glass, but I have found it much easier to just bring the bottle out and pour an extra ounce or two than explain/alienate the guest. We use 22 oz Bordeaux glasses and for those who arent used to this type of service it may look like an underpour. We never get complaints on our white pours because it just looks like more with the smaller glass.