Wine glasses today 7 times larger than 300 yrs ago
Wine glasses became a common receptacle from which wine was drunk around 1700 Zorana Zupan,
London: The capacity of wine glasses has increased seven- fold over the past 300 years, and most steeply in the last two decades as wine consumption rose, a study in the UK has found.
Wine consumption increased almost four- fold between 1960 and 1980, and almost doubled again between 1980 and 2004, researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK said.
“Wine will no doubt be a feature of some merry Christmas nights, but when it comes to how much we drink, wine glass size probably does matter,” said Theresa Marteau, Professor at Cambridge.
Marteau and colleagues looked at wine glass capacity over time to help understand whether any changes in their size might have contributed to the steep rise in its consumption over the past few decades.
“Wine glasses became a common receptacle from which wine was drunk around 1700,” said Zorana
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First author of the study
Zupan, first author.
“This followed the development of lead crystal glassware by George Ravenscroft in the late 17th century, which led to the manufacture of less fragile and larger glasses than was previously possible,” Zupan said.
Through a combination of online searches and discussions with experts in antique glassware, including museum curators, the researchers obtained measurements of 411 glasses from 1700 to modern day. They found that wine glass capacity increased from 66 mililitres ( ml) in the 1700s to 417 ml in the 2000s.