There are many understandable reasons to pour yourself a giant glass of wine: a rotten day at work, a broken heart, or perhaps a new episode of “The Bachelorette” or similarly trashy TV, to name just a few. But a recent study from Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab suggests that a few environmental cues might be guiding you to unconsciously overpour.
In one experiment, the researchers found that people poured more white wine than red into a glass, for the simplest of reasons: It’s just easier to see red wine, which means it’s easier to tell how much you’ve poured. The study also showed that people poured more wine into a wider glass, compared to a narrower one; to explain this, they argue that when estimating the volume of liquid in a glass, people tend to focus more on height than width.
Last, they found that people poured more wine when they were holding the glass than they did when the glass was resting on a table. The study authors argue this is because it simply takes less effort to pour a liquid into a glass you’re holding; they cite past research showing that people consume more water when it’s easier for them to do so, for example. So have as much wine as you want, but be aware of the reasons you might unintentionally be pouring too much. No need to waste wine, after all.
