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Does a logo on a wine glass measure a standard drink?

Cathy Gowdie

'Logos on wine glasses are about branding and helping the restaurant keep its pours consistent.'
'Logos on wine glasses are about branding and helping the restaurant keep its pours consistent.'Michel O'Sullivan

When bars and restaurants have a logo on their wine glasses and fill them up to that level, is that so they can measure a standard drink?

Certainly not in any legal sense - and don't be thinking that it is, or you may find yourself saying sayonara to your driver's licence next time you breathe into a bag.

Etched logos on wine glasses are about branding and helping the restaurant keep its pours consistent - bar and waiting staff are instructed to fill to a certain level, and having a mark on the glass helps.

They have nothing to do with the measurement of a standard drink. In Australia, a standard drink contains 10 grams of alcohol, which is usually equated to about 100 millilitres of table wine - maybe more or less, depending on whether the wine is a pretty little moscato with lowish alcohol or a big, in-your-face, alcoholic zinfandel - but those are extremes. Either way, 100 millilitres is not a huge amount of wine by most people's standards. If you are poured this much at a bar, you might be reminded of a story told by the Greek author Athenaeus, in which a man was offered a tiny serve of wine and told that it was 16 years old. The man is said to have eyed the wine and remarked: ''It is very small for its age.''

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That was circa AD200. Our ancient fellow drinker would, I trust, be happier with most restaurant wine pours in present-day Australia, which are generally more like 120 millilitres or 150 millilitres. That is good if you are thirsty; less so if you are bad at basic arithmetic and hoping to drive home without an unhappy encounter with your local constabulary.

A trend I'm increasingly seeing at wine bars and at the upper end of the restaurant market is to offer different sizes of pour - tastings, half-glasses and full glasses - and to specify exactly what measure you will get for your money. Some wine lists might state that reds and whites are poured at 150 millilitres but dessert wines and sparklings are 100 millilitres. When you're considering busting a lot of money on a single glass of wine - for example, French fizz at $25 - it's helpful to know beforehand if you're going to get a generous pour, or one that will leave you feeling less than celebratory. Advance knowledge of the size of a restaurant's pours is also handy when you're in two minds about taking the plunge and buying a whole bottle.

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