The Glass Carafe History
Posted by admin on Jun 20, 2009
The Glass Carafe History
Historically, prior to the fall of the Roman Empire, the Ancient Romans used glass carafes solely for the purpose of serving wine. During this period, the production of glass greatly declined, and as a result the Romans used several other metals and/or materials to produce carafes such as silver and gold, bronze, and earthenware which is pottery made from fired clay. However during the Renaissance era, the creation of beautifully etched glass carafes were made.
The Arabic word for Carafe was Gharaffa, this type of container was used to hold coffee. The Italian word for Carafe was Carraffa, the Italians used this container for wine as well as coffee. In 1786, the French changed the name Carraffa to Carafe, as it remains today.
Although many people are under the impression that carafes are used for serving wine on special occasions, entertaining dinner guests and when breaking out the “good china” for holiday meals. In fact, one important function of using a carafe for wine is effective aeration for “breathing”.
Initially the shape of a carafe is a wide bottom bottle container, most carafes have narrow necks that bow out to the mouth of the bottle which is a flaring lip at the top. The wide mouth exposes the wine to the air, this allows the wine to effectively breathe to expose and enhance the natural flavors.
In addition to choosing a carafe as well as a beautifully desinged decanter, the wine carafe is also used to eliminate the sediment from the wine. Pouring the wine slowely from the original bottle into a carafe allows you to watch carefully as the sediment approaches the neck of the bottle, at that point you are finished pouring. You may have about 1/4 of the wine left in the bottle which can be used for cooking to enhance the flavor of your favorite meals.