Wine glasses seven times larger than in Georgian era

WINE glasses are on average seven times larger than they were three hundred years ago, research has found.

An investigation by Cambridge University identified a steady increase in the size of glassware from the Georgian era and a rapid enlargement in the 20th century.

Combined with an increase in the average strength of wine, the larger glasses mean today’s alcohol consumption from wine was likely to be far higher than in the past, researchers said.

For the new research, published in the British Medical Journal, the team obtained the measurements of 411 glasses from 1700 to modern day.

They found that wine glass capacity increased from 66ml in the 1700s to 417ml in the 2000s, with the mean wine glass size in 2016-17 being 449ml.

Wine consumption increased almost four-fold between 1960 and 1980, and almost doubled again between 1980 and 2000 as wine became affordable.

Research showed the Glass Excise tax, levied in the mid-18th century, led to the manufacture of smaller glass products.

This tax was abolished in 1845, and in the late Victorian era glass production began to shift from more traditional mouth-blowing techniques to automated processes.

“Whether this led to the rise in wine consumption in England, we can’t say for certain, but a wine glass 300 years ago would only have held about a half of today’s small measure,” the team wrote.