The clinking glasses custom has its roots in the Middle Ages. It first appeared in formal meals, usually the ones, the Kings or the Aristocrats used to hold. The ritual didn't simply demand the clinking of the glasses so that the sound was just heard, but hitting the glasses or the cups with power so that the drinks – usually wine – would bounce in and out of the glass.

The aim of clinking the glasses was to drop a little from the one drink into the other, an implicit wine 'Exchange'. This way, both drinkers would drink a small amount of eachother' s wine. This would happen because the ruling class had possessed many enemies due to the axioms they had, that envied the rulers and possibly coveted their position.

By clinking the glasses, the guests were confident that the host wouldn't try to poison them by putting homicidal liquids in their wine, cause both would drink from the same wine “mixture”. So the aspiring assassin would not try to poison them, because he would get poisoned at the same time!

Tradition moved to our days and was enriched as follows:
Because wine does good to he heart people tried to satisfy all their senses. Therefore it satisfies:
Vision with the wine' s color,
taste by tasting it,
smell by smelling it,
touch by touching the glass and the until then unsatisfied hearing, by clinking the glasses.

Cheers!