There are many different sized wine glasses out there--like flutes, bowls, saucers, goblets. But what exactly is the purpose of all these glasses? Many a wine connoisseur will tell you that size and shape can enhance the smell, taste, and overall experience one has with a wine.

“The shape of the glass is very important, as it concentrates the flavor and aroma (or bouquet) to emphasize the varietal's characteristic. One common belief is that the shape of the glass directs the wine itself into the best area of the mouth from the varietal.” (from good ol' Wikipedia)

Ok, so purchasing a set of 18 wine glasses may be good for our noses and taste-buds (not to mention our party-habits), but it could hardly be considered to be good for our earth. (The wine inside your glass takes 120 liters of water to make, and the glass bottle took 1,900 lbs of CO2 to make, so I'm guessing the glass took a lot of energy and resources as well.)

But that's not the end of the story. Becoming deeply involved in any activity, such as wine tasting, stimulates the brain, the soul, and the community. Drinking wine out of a vast array of fancy glasses in an activity that could bring people together to talk about, well, how much energy it took to make that set of wine glasses.

So, is there a way to reconcile connoisseur-ism with environmentalism?

If you’re like me, finding the finer characteristics of wine within your taste buds takes a whole lot of concentration and focus, and might not be worth actually buying several sets of new wine glasses. So, I decided to go for freegan style wine tasting and  look around my house for some common items that sort of resembled different wine glass shapes. And, at the same time, I was determined to uncover a low-consumption solution to the wine glass problem.

Here’s what I found:

• one regular looking, somewhat curvy vase
• one regular creamer container
• three different sizes of measuring cups (1/3 cup, ½ cup and 1 cup)
• one funnel (taped shut at the bottom, of course!)

These receptacles are nice, but do they accentuate the flavors and scents of the wine? I tested the wine with a regular glass first, as a control. This way I could compare my findings with the other glasses back to the original.

Left to right: vase, funnel, measuring cups, and creamer

From a conventional red wine glass, I thought the wine (Fish Eye Shiraz, from a 3L box) was fairly good with a dark, fruity flavor. I awarded it a 3 out of 5.

Tasting with the vase was a surprisingly different experience. I thought that the shape contained the smell until it actually hit my lips, giving it more of an explosion. I awarded this a 4 out of 5.

With the creamer container, a little more aroma was able to escape, but not much. However, for some reason it made it taste blander and not as strong, to which I only awarded a 3 out of 5.

The funnel was extremely disappointing, and definitely not recommended. It contained the smell too much, never allowing it to permeate my nose at all. For this, I gave it a weak 1 out of 5.

The 1/3-cup gave almost too much smell. I felt like I had tasted it before I even put the cup to my lips. And once I did taste it, it was a little bitter due to the fact that I had already soaked it all up from the aroma. A somewhat disappointing 2 out of 5.

I was very pleased with both the ½-cup and the 1 cup. I gave both a 4 out of 5 because it gave off a nice amount of smell, but still allowed me to really taste its flavor with my mouth.

So, if you are looking for a cheap, easy, environmentally low-impact way to get some nice smells and flavors from your wine, without having to buy a new set, try some of your measuring cups. You might be pleasantly surprised...I know I was!

A set of wine "glasses" fit for a freegan

The measuring cups and vase pleased my palate, but if you are a hardcore wine drinker looking for a low-impact solution, consider looking for a set of antique or used wine glasses. You'll be saving a pile of glass from a landfill, and you'll still get the full range of aromas.

While this was a light-hearted exercise in freegan wine tasting, it hints at some of the broader issues we face as we try to live more environmentally friendly lifestyles. How can we reconcile our "stuff" intensive hobbies (and palates) with a desire to do good for the environment by consuming consciously?

For more information on glass sizes and shapes, check out:

Sizes guide to wine glasses

To find a great used wine glass set or appropriately shaped vase, check out:

Freecycle

by Alissa Tritman

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Image from Flickr users wiccked and tofutti break shared with a Creative Commons Attribution License.