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It is always funny to see Americans using huge (as in HUGE) glasses to drink wine, believing that it is the French distinguished way of tasting wine, and being

by wott 9y ago

It is always funny to see Americans using huge (as in HUGE) glasses to drink wine, believing that it is the French distinguished way of tasting wine, and being disappointed when they discover that French people just use regular/smallish glasses in any context. No, it is just Americans confusing 'big' for 'refined' as usual :-) (and bigger for more refined, and even bigger for super classy).

throwaway5752 9y ago
Most people in the US go to a specialty retailer if they need wine glasses, and a nice one has Riedel or something comparable. The sales associate will invariably say "oh this is made to enjoy red Bordeauxs, this one is for white Burgundies, etc, etc" and they will be nudged to go fancy. I don't know if they go in with the expressed plan to buy an enormous wine glass set, but just look at https://www.riedel.com/restaurant/collection/d/sommeliers/bordeaux-grand-cru-1/ https://www.riedel.com/restaurant/collection/d/sommeliers/bo..., it's 30 oz. I think it's fair to say there is an element of industry pushing consumer demand in a more expensive direction. Also, I think it's fair to point out Riedel is European and has been around for 250 years. Also, even if I was presented with that wine glass, I would expect nothing more than a standard pour. I don't think you're being entirely fair to Americans in this particular case (even if a number of them would be happy with a pint of wine).
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Most people in the US go to a specialty retailer if they need wine glasses [citation needed] If I were going to bet, I'd say most purchasers of wine glasses probably do it through general retailers like Target or Amazon, not specialty retailers. I would be less surprised if the greatest number of consumer purchases of wineglasses were from specialty retailers because the people who buy from them but more glasses per person, but I really doubt most people use a specialty retailer.
  - throwaway5752 9y ago
    You got me. I have no idea, and I'm not invested enough to find out. I'd assumed Williams-Sonoma or something comparable. Let the record show that Target sells Riedel, too.
- rsynnott 9y ago
  > Also, I think it's fair to point out Riedel is European and has been around for 250 years. It’s fairly common for companies to make different things for different markets, though. GM is American, and a century or so old, but didn’t exactly sell many Opel Corsas in the US, say. (For the sake of pedanticism, as of this year Opel is no longer a GM brand, but anyway...)
  - lucaspiller 9y ago
    It goes both ways too. As a European I’d love to buy a Fiat(-Chrysler) 500e, but they aren’t sold here.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
prawn 9y ago
As with everything, it's a trend. If you served dinner with a smaller wine glass (an XL5, for example), some people would wonder if you'd missed a memo. Gets a bit silly. Larger glasses allow for more surface area, sure, but they're impractically delicate to use and clean. But then, if you think that's silly, consider jeans. For almost everyone in a Western country, if you left the house in jeans with a really unfashionable wash (acid, stone, etc) it's likely that people would be astonished. I know circles where you'd be ridiculed for life. Not the item of clothing, the cut, cleanliness or necessarily even the colour, but just the treatment of the dyed material. We're pretty ridiculous...
- djrogers 9y ago
  > I know circles where you'd be ridiculed for life. There’s a good signal that those circles are to be avoided.
  - prawn 9y ago
    You say that, but this includes friends raising it routinely at the pub and things like that. If not jeans, I think any social circle would have an equivalent reaction for another fashion faux pas, even if it was more dramatic like wearing flared pants or overalls.
r00fus 9y ago
My fave is one Christmas dinner wine served with my French in-laws in duralex glasses (you know, the unbreakable ones). Not cheap wines either :)
freetime2 9y ago
I think the large wine glasses have less to do with imitating the French, and more to do with the belief that they enhance the experience of drinking red wines. Also, you seem to be suggesting here that since the French don't do it, then it isn't refined. Perhaps you are the one who is confused about the definition of "refined"?
djrogers 9y ago
Err, no - we’re pretty well aware that those glasses are a modern improvement from California. There are many good reasons for drinking the same 4-5oz of wine out of a nice big modern cab glass, pretending to be more French is definitely not one fo them.

by wott 9y ago

throwaway5752 9y ago

Most people in the US go to a specialty retailer if they need wine glasses, and a nice one has Riedel or something comparable. The sales associate will invariably say "oh this is made to enjoy red Bordeauxs, this one is for white Burgundies, etc, etc" and they will be nudged to go fancy. I don't know if they go in with the expressed plan to buy an enormous wine glass set, but just look at https://www.riedel.com/restaurant/collection/d/sommeliers/bordeaux-grand-cru-1/ https://www.riedel.com/restaurant/collection/d/sommeliers/bo..., it's 30 oz. I think it's fair to say there is an element of industry pushing consumer demand in a more expensive direction. Also, I think it's fair to point out Riedel is European and has been around for 250 years. Also, even if I was presented with that wine glass, I would expect nothing more than a standard pour. I don't think you're being entirely fair to Americans in this particular case (even if a number of them would be happy with a pint of wine).

dragonwriter 9y ago
> Most people in the US go to a specialty retailer if they need wine glasses [citation needed] If I were going to bet, I'd say most purchasers of wine glasses probably do it through general retailers like Target or Amazon, not specialty retailers. I would be less surprised if the greatest number of consumer purchases of wineglasses were from specialty retailers because the people who buy from them but more glasses per person, but I really doubt most people use a specialty retailer.
- throwaway5752 9y ago
  You got me. I have no idea, and I'm not invested enough to find out. I'd assumed Williams-Sonoma or something comparable. Let the record show that Target sells Riedel, too.
rsynnott 9y ago
> Also, I think it's fair to point out Riedel is European and has been around for 250 years. It’s fairly common for companies to make different things for different markets, though. GM is American, and a century or so old, but didn’t exactly sell many Opel Corsas in the US, say. (For the sake of pedanticism, as of this year Opel is no longer a GM brand, but anyway...)
- lucaspiller 9y ago
  It goes both ways too. As a European I’d love to buy a Fiat(-Chrysler) 500e, but they aren’t sold here.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

prawn 9y ago

As with everything, it's a trend. If you served dinner with a smaller wine glass (an XL5, for example), some people would wonder if you'd missed a memo. Gets a bit silly. Larger glasses allow for more surface area, sure, but they're impractically delicate to use and clean. But then, if you think that's silly, consider jeans. For almost everyone in a Western country, if you left the house in jeans with a really unfashionable wash (acid, stone, etc) it's likely that people would be astonished. I know circles where you'd be ridiculed for life. Not the item of clothing, the cut, cleanliness or necessarily even the colour, but just the treatment of the dyed material. We're pretty ridiculous...

djrogers 9y ago
> I know circles where you'd be ridiculed for life. There’s a good signal that those circles are to be avoided.
- prawn 9y ago
  You say that, but this includes friends raising it routinely at the pub and things like that. If not jeans, I think any social circle would have an equivalent reaction for another fashion faux pas, even if it was more dramatic like wearing flared pants or overalls.

r00fus 9y ago

My fave is one Christmas dinner wine served with my French in-laws in duralex glasses (you know, the unbreakable ones). Not cheap wines either :)

freetime2 9y ago

I think the large wine glasses have less to do with imitating the French, and more to do with the belief that they enhance the experience of drinking red wines. Also, you seem to be suggesting here that since the French don't do it, then it isn't refined. Perhaps you are the one who is confused about the definition of "refined"?

djrogers 9y ago

Err, no - we’re pretty well aware that those glasses are a modern improvement from California. There are many good reasons for drinking the same 4-5oz of wine out of a nice big modern cab glass, pretending to be more French is definitely not one fo them.