Size Matters

Limiting yourself to just one glass of wine isn’t always an easy task. And it turns out it may be even harder depending on the size of that glass. The Behavior and Health Research Unit at the University of Cambridge recently studied patrons at a local pub in hopes of finding out if changing the size of the wine glass has any effect on drinking behavior. (And no, we aren’t talking Betty White-sized glasses.) It turns out, decreasing the size of the glass has no noticeable effect, but increasing the glass size does. In the experiment, the same amount of wine was poured in varying glasses. Nonetheless, people felt there to be less wine in the larger glasses. That led them to drink faster and drink more–10% more. So it seems like the question isn’t: is the glass half full or half empty? But: how big is the glass?

In Champagne bottles, the punt (the indentation in the bottom of the bottle) is intentionally larger than other bottle styles, so that it forms a handhold for pouring the Champagne into glassware.

Answer: False.

The punt in a Champagne bottle is usually larger than in regular bottles, but the reason is to prevent the Champagne bottle from exploding. During the second fermentation, which ultimately gives Champagne its bubbles, six atmospheres of pressure are built up inside the glass wall of the bottle. The Champagne bottle’s prominent punt allows for more even distribution of pressure inside the bottle, preventing an explosion. Originally, however, the punt was a way of preventing the jagged pontil mark—the point left over after a glass bottle was blown and shaped—from scratching the surface of a table. Later, when bottles were made using a mold, the punt was kept to add stability to the bottle when upright, and in the case of Champagne, to disperse the pressure inside the bottle over a larger surface of glass area.

“Many drinkers think of white wine as foreplay and feel somehow unsatisfied with a meal that doesn’t lead eventually to red.”

—Jay McInerney, Bacchus & Me

Size Matters

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