A question of sherry ….

Hi everyone - thank you for stopping by & taking time to read my blog.

Cooler weather is sherry time in my house - particularly at the end of my working week when I just relax & unwind …

On Friday this was my photo of my relaxing sherry, & it prompted a discussion on glass size.

In my student days, I worked part time in a large upmarket department store & was a regular placement in their China & Glass department. This echoed my love of fabulous china & had me memorising various glass shapes & names; in those days, there were glasses for absolutely everything! We are all a lot more relaxed about general glasses these days.

This morning is wet & wild in the Shire - wind, rain & generally grim so I decided to do my own sherry test to see how glass sizes, shape & colour cloud our judgement of sizes.

My preferred glass - shown above - came from Olive's glass cabinet - one of a kind only but it is so perfect because of the rounder shape with a decent foot that sits well & a comfortable little handle - What is not to like about it?

I rounded up the sherry glasses in our home for my test: What is your predictions on how much they hold?

I lined up the ones I wanted to test along with my glass & then filled them from that to make sure it was all the same each time. My glass (vintage custard cup) is the tester one in each photo …

 A traditional tall stemmed crystal sherry glass

Another traditional sherry glass

A thin vintage etched sherry glass

A modern sherry glass with a lower stem & a green foot

My glass - on the right - against the slightly taller similar glass; it has a smaller handle & can hold more than my glass …. mmmm

Vintage thin, decorative pink sherry glass

Against the red & gold Venetian glass ones we use at Christmas

 Fascinating to see how our judgement is clouded by shape & colour - all conform to a similar amount of sherry but the bulbous shapes really cloud the judgement of volume.

I had brought through a washing up bowl to put them in as I finished each one (older glasses are not dishwasher safe so many have to be hand washed - this is the selection as I finished with them. The similar sizes are noticeable when they are on their sides …

The final question - is decanters?  To decant or not?

At Christmas, I decant sherry in to the red Venetian decanter which is kept out on the sideboard but I confess to seldom decanting spirits. It is probably fine out of the bottle;  the preferred sherry - full cream of course, I just like the creamy taste & a supermarket own one - Waitrose - is perfect!  :)

How do you like your sherry? Was your guess close?

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to comment & ponder …. perhaps while you pour one yourself!
Dee ~♥~