They Were Once Big

• In "How to Enjoy Your Wine," Hugh Johnson noted that hock glasses once held 1/4 liter (about 1 ½ cups) of wine. This may have been thought a "fair measure" because German wines were not high in alcohol.

Small and Pretty

• More recently, the typical hock glass is long-stemmed and has a small cup, sometimes lavishly cut or engraved. The bowl is sometimes brightly colored.

Colors

• Hock glasses traditionally have a clear bowl but a tapered, ridged green or smooth brown stem. These colors will disguise the color of the wine--their intent may have been to make it look darker and therefore older and better.

French, Too

• Alsace, in eastern France, also makes white wines from Germany's riesling grape. Alsatian rieslings were also drunk in brown-stemmed hock glasses.

Why a Hock Glass?

• German wine writer Jens Priewe thinks that fancy hock glasses date from a time when wine was an expensive luxury. The unsuitable but pretty glasses were meant to be displayed more than used.