No, it is just Americans confusing 'big' for 'refined' as usual :-) (and bigger for more refined, and even bigger for super classy).
But then, if you think that's silly, consider jeans. For almost everyone in a Western country, if you left the house in jeans with a really unfashionable wash (acid, stone, etc) it's likely that people would be astonished. I know circles where you'd be ridiculed for life. Not the item of clothing, the cut, cleanliness or necessarily even the colour, but just the treatment of the dyed material. We're pretty ridiculous...
There’s a good signal that those circles are to be avoided.
Also, even if I was presented with that wine glass, I would expect nothing more than a standard pour. I don't think you're being entirely fair to Americans in this particular case (even if a number of them would be happy with a pint of wine).
[citation needed]
If I were going to bet, I'd say most purchasers of wine glasses probably do it through general retailers like Target or Amazon, not specialty retailers.
I would be less surprised if the greatest number of consumer purchases of wineglasses were from specialty retailers because the people who buy from them but more glasses per person, but I really doubt most people use a specialty retailer.
It’s fairly common for companies to make different things for different markets, though. GM is American, and a century or so old, but didn’t exactly sell many Opel Corsas in the US, say. (For the sake of pedanticism, as of this year Opel is no longer a GM brand, but anyway...)
Not cheap wines either :)
Also, you seem to be suggesting here that since the French don't do it, then it isn't refined. Perhaps you are the one who is confused about the definition of "refined"?