It’s very inconvenient to drink from a wine glass and have it always press up against the bridge of your nose before you even get half way done. To the point where you have to strain your neck back to accommodate the awkwardness.
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Red wine glasses in particular are shaped to be filled to the widest point, allowing the greatest surface area in contact with the air and a narrow opening to stop the scent of the wine escaping.
Red wine can also have a sediment at the bottom of it, particularly if you take your time with a glass. Having to tip your head back to empty the glass, as you describe would mean you would get a mouthful of that, and it isn’t pleasant. The design encourages you to leave a small amount of wine at the bottom of the glass to spare you the taste and inevitable black globs in your teeth (and probably at certain times would have way of judging someone’s etiquette and breeding. Refined palates would be educated to know you don’t drain your glass, etc).
They’re designed in a way to capture the aromatics of the wine and allow the full bouquet to be wafted into your nose to allow the different notes to be captured by your sense of smell; the shape also allows you to swish the wine around in the glass and see the viscosity, or body of the wine, and see how it clings to the glass (or not).
TL;DR: because wine snobs 🙂
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