While dining at a quaint restaurant in Salzburg this evening, I was struck by their ingenious wine glasses that were marked with both 1/8 liter and 1/4 liter lines. Granted, while Americans rarely view volume in liters, I still found this incredibly helpful as all by-the-glass selections were listed on the menu as .125l and .25l pours.
As the volumes and units of measurement can easily be changed for a given market, I’m surprised we see so few glasses that mark what is approximately a “half glass” and a “full glass” pour. To me, the benefits to restauranteurs, servers, and costumers are abundantly clear. Not only are you essentially “doubling” your by-the-glass options, you’re also eliminating overpouring, underpouring, and guessing.
Curious to hear what others have experienced and whether these glasses are equally as common in various European or American markets as they seem relatively abundant in Austria. Thanks!
Next you’ll travel to the UK and tell us about the pint glasses with fill lines. I’ve seen wine glasses in USA restaurants with fill lines but never with quantities mentioned.
The next rabbit hole is what exactly is a “standard volume” for a glass of wine in America. I’ve always heard people say just under 1/5 of a 750 which puts us around .150 liters or 150 ml. It’s my understanding that there’s no clear consensus and that a restaurant will fall close but ultimately chose and/or eyeball how generous they want their pours to be without a clear volume.
The “standard” used to be 6 glasses per 750 ml bottle. Seems like most people consider 4 glasses per bottle standard now, but I doubt most restaurants are serving 6 ounce glasses of wine.
There are many glasses with little lines etched, much less obnoxiously than those in the pic. They’re used by wine bars so that pourers always pour the correct amounts, depending on whether someone is doing a flight or a full glass. Obviously the amounts depend on the wine bar and maybe even the glass. But they’re not all that uncommon.
