People drink more wine when larger wineglasses are used. In fact, research finds wine sales increase almost 10% with larger glasses.
It’s well known larger plates increase food consumption. Plate sizes have nearly doubled over the past 100 years, likely contributing to the prevalence of obesity. An even more pronounced effect has happened to stemware: they have ballooned from typical 66ml in the 1700s to nearly 450ml today – an almost sevenfold increase.
The biggest jump in the size of wine glasses has been since the 1990s:
Do the larger glasses cause people to drink more wine?
UK researchers tested this theory through a real-world experiment in a pub. They served 175ml of wine (~6 ounces) in one of three glass sizes: a larger 370ml size, a standard 300ml, and a smaller 250ml glass. Each glass size was used for a two-week period.
The customers ended up drinking (and buying) nearly 10% more wine when they were drinking out of the largest glasses. Sales likely increased because customers drank the wine more quickly and then seemingly felt compelled to buy another round. The researchers concluded the larger glasses made it seem like there’s less wine in the glass.
However, as the effect was more pronounced with white wine than red, there may also be a practical reason. While criticizing the use of large wine glasses, one wine writer observed: “Not just because it encourages people to drink more than they intended, but also because white and pink wines tend to warm up in them, encouraging people to finish their contents before they get too warm to be refreshing.”
Given these results, it’s tempting to use the numerosity effect and reduce the sizes of glasses (and plates) to subtly encourage people to drink (and eat) less. Unfortunately, despite many studies, the research is at best inconclusive and at worst shows little correlation between plate size and consumption. The same is true with wine glasses – in the study, those who drank out of the smaller 250ml glasses didn’t drink less than those with the standard glasses.
So, the next time you’re served wine in a large glass, remember that you’re likely to drink more.
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