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Champagne tastes good from any glass, but you can enhance the experience by selecting the right glass for the right occasion. Here’s what to choose, and why…
Why, yes, there is! For the best flavour and fizz, connoisseurs advocate for tulip-shaped glasses: a little like the familiar flute shape, but with a wider section towards the bottom and narrowing slightly towards the tip. Why? Because they give the bubbles the best rise time (up the length of the glass), with enough volume to form in the base of the glass, and popping with enough space to release the fruity, toasty champagne aroma to perfection. The wider bowl also means you’re less likely to feel the bubbles popping directly onto your nose as you sip. Try our Tulip Glasses, which come in a set of four (ideal for toasts).
In order for bubbles to form in any drink, they need a textured surface. A good fizz glass will be completely smooth everywhere except at the very base of the bowl where it joins the stem. This section is given an uneven finish to enable bubbles to form in the lowest point of the glass, allowing them space to rise.
So, if the tulip is the ‘best’, why do we have other types of champagne glasses? Well, here’s the secret: unless you’re drinking the very finest vintage champagne, the best advice is to go with the glass you like. Yes, really – and it can absolutely enhance the experience.
Coupes capture a roaring ’20s feel that just feels instantly decadent, as though you’re at a party in The Great Gatsby. You might find the fizz loses it bubbles quicker in the flat, shallow bowl, so pour little and often for the bubbliest drink. For true opulence, our hand-twisted stem Ferne Champagne Coupes are straight out of a film noir.
Flutes lined up ready for filling just scream ‘celebration!’. They hold fizz well in the narrow bowl and are excellent at drinks parties, where it’s harder to keep topping up and sometimes you need to hold a canapé in the same hand. With the vertical bowls, you get more bubbles popping on your nose, but we rather like that piquant fizz feeling. Our Pimlico Flutes have a slightly wider bowl at the bottom, to enhance flavour.
If you prefer the taste of champagne but the price tag of prosecco, try swapping for cava or crémant. Champagne can only be made in the Champagne region of northern France, but just a few miles away, Crémant de Bourgogne and Crémant de Loire are made in the same way and have a lot of that characteristic, toasty taste. Cava, from Spain, uses the same method (with different grapes). It’s fruitier, but just as bubbly. Prosecco is made in a different way – not left to age like the others. It tastes lighter and fresher, and loses its fizz quickly once opened.
It’s not just champagne that benefits from the right size and shape of glass.
E.g. Côtes du Rhône, shiraz or malbec
These are at their best in large, wide glasses where the wine can move around and aerate properly. This helps to smooth out any of the harshness from the tannins and allows complex flavours to develop.
E.g. Beaujolais or pinot noir With less complex notes, these don’t need the space that full-bodied reds deserve. For a modern feel, we like them served in stemless glasses, like our Skye Optic Tumblers.
E.g. Pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc
The lighter, fresher whites flourish in a glass with a narrower bowl, giving the fruity, floral aromas a place to concentrate as you sip.
E.g. Oaked chardonnay or muscat
With more complex, buttery flavours, these also benefit from a larger glass with room for the flavours to develop, so feel free to serve them in ‘red’ wine glasses.
It’s not considered the best of manners to clink glasses when you toast in the UK. Clinking originates in the idea that some of the drink would slosh between glasses, to prove no cups at the table had been poisoned. Modern manners dictate that you simply raise your glass, without clinking, and trust there’s no poison in there (protecting your hosts glassware, too). That said, we rather like a festive clink, so best practice is to follow your host’s example and do as they do.
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