In England, a wine glass is six times the size of the 18th century, but did you know that size strongly influences wine consumption ? Beaux-Vins explains…
Sometimes, scientific studies prove what we all think. There is little, studies have shown that a larger plate causes people to eat more. Cambridge University researchers wondered if this rule also applies to wine consumption. And guess what… according to the study published in the journal BMC Public Health, the size of the glass influences your consumption !
The influence of glass size
In order to observe the influence of the size of the glass on alcohol consumption, scientists carried out their study in a Cambridge bar and restaurant, The Pint Shop. For four months, the managers of the establishment changed the wine glasses every fortnight without modifying the amount of wine poured into them. They alternated between standard glasses of 300 mL, larger glasses of 370 mL and smaller 250 mL.
The result is edifying : the researchers discovered that offering tall glasses of 370 mL leads to an increase of 9,4 % of wine sales volume, compared to days when wine was sold in standard glasses. The gap was even greater in the bar than in the restaurant section. However, scientists have not found a significant difference between the use of small 250 mL and standard glasses of 300 mL.
The illusion of quantity in the glass
One of the study's authors, Rachel Pechey, believes that this phenomenon is the result of an illusion of quantity depending on the size of the glass :
"We have found that increasing the size of wine glasses, even without increasing the amount of wine, leads people to drink more. The reasons are not obvious, but one of the explanations could be that tall glasses change our perception of the amount of wine, which leads us to drink faster and order more. But it is interesting to note that we do not see the opposite effect when we have switched to smaller glasses.. "
Her colleague Theresa Marteau, director of the University of Cambridge, goes further by suggesting that people may also prefer to drink wine from a tall glass, supposed to develop his qualities, and therefore drink more. According to her, these results could have concrete applications in the field of public health. :
"This suggests that avoiding the use of tall wine glasses could reduce the amount people drink. We need to do more research to confirm this effect, but, if that is the case, we will have to think about how this could be implemented. For example, could we add to the criteria for obtaining the license to sell alcohol that all glasses are below a certain size ? "
It is important to have a finish
While waiting to see an application for public health, we can especially see a commercial application with wine bars that will rush to buy glasses of 300 mL to increase their turnover !
Jean-Nicolas Mouretin
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Study in English : BMC Public Health
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