Port Wine Glass Redesign

Lana here :)

So you'd think a port wine glass would be just a simple glass, slightly smaller in capacity than a regular wine glass. I thought the same until we met two architects at the Quinta Do Vallado tour and tasting who enlightened us about port wine glasses.

The glass you see below was specially sanctioned by the Instituto do Vinho do Porto.  This is the governing body of all port producers and this Institute analyzes and declares when a year produces a "Vintage" port.  There is a well known Portuguese architect by the name of Álvaro Siza Vieira who has had quite an illustrious career and was asked to take on the task of updating the port wine glass.  You wouldn't think there would be much to update--after all, it's just a glass.

Well, trust an architect to come up with a product design that has best been described as a "great example of an elegant form solving a functional problem."  You'll notice the following:

1)  the mouth of the glass itself is quite small. This is to concentrate the nose of the port wine to enhance the flavour when you drink it. Remember, the smell of a food contributes to a large part of the taste sensation when you eat or drink.

2) you'll note a small "chip" or "indent" just below the bowl of the glass.  This notch in the stem was designed so that you can hold the port glass in one of two proper positions. This first position is by using your thumb and second finger to hold the glass without having the warm of your fingers affect the temperature of the port. 

3) you'll notice that the stem is then faceted with four sides. This allows a better balance with the glass when you swirl using the notch.  

4) the bowl of the glass is very wide at the bottom. This is to ensure you won't spill any port while you are swirling.

and lastly 5) you'll note that the base of the glass follows the stem facets from point 3. One of the four facets is thinner than the others. Why? Well, there's a second proper position to hold the glass if you don't like the one described in point 2. You can simply hold the base of the glass with your thumb on top and other fingers underneath. The thinner facet was designed to allow for holding the glass more comfortably if you prefer this other method.  

Hope you found this design analysis interesting, at least I did, but I'm a bit of a geek and proud of it :)