Please do not use one of the above glass for your Champagne and sparkling wine enjoyment! These vessels are not glassware that is appropriate for any sparkling wine or Champagne. While a long used sparkling wine glass since the 17th century which were truly designed to showcase the bubbles and nothing else including nose and palate. And yes, of course, I want to see bubbles too but I want to make sure I can enjoy the nose of the wine as well.
I’d rather be served in a coupe – very old wine silhouette like the flute and while fun and old timey have the same problem of nose and palate experience as the flutes. I call coupes “Jackie O’s” because of the mid-century adoption of these wine stems. I also found only one picture thus far of Jackie Kennedy Onassis drinking a glass of wine and it is a coupe and by that extension it had to be a sparkling wine. There are photos of wine objects near her and one where she is being poured wine in a vineyard setting but she is not drinking it.
But I digress.
I have been to wine events where someone will ask for a Burgundy glass for their sparkling wine which is not optimum either. The Burgundy glass is designed for still wines and not sparkling wine. If you visit Champagne and the only glass you will see will be a Tulip glass. The Tulip allows for full sensory experience and the 80% of our senses informs the experience of any wine overwhelmingly. The tulip also allows for a view of the alluring bubble action as well.
I have one particular set of friends who enjoy a high end Champagne daily (generally $75 and above) but they only use a flute and I have urged the acquisition of Tulip glasses to maximize the experience of the wines they pour frequently. I said try out a pair and see if they experience an improvement in their Champagne experience. A dollar spend of $2,000 per month but glassware that was never designed to maximize the value of the wines they are enjoying. If one can afford pricey wine everyday a slight spend on decent Tulip glasses can be easily accomplished. I know other people who have a large monthly spend on expensive wines but also use inadequate stemware. I kindly remind and challenge them to spend just a tad more on better stemware and they will be rewarding their daily tasting.
While good and great wine glasses are “expensive” they are a reward to wine drinking and with great care you can hold on to your wine glasses for sometime. There is a great disparity in how people enjoy their wines in glasses that are completely inadequate. At least in the US as compared to Europe many restaurants have terrible wine glassware–one restaurant here in San Francisco and one of California’s oldest restaurants uses stemware that might cost a dollar. I do think eating out in San Francisco which is an expensive food town should match with better stemware. I can for the most part reliably go to a Manhattan restaurant and have decent stemware but New York is an anomaly in the US restaurant landscape as it relates to stemware.
A Much Ado about Nothing–restaurants who use poorly designed stemware do not encourage another glass of wine to be purchased. The framing of wine is to pair and complement the food being served and optimizing the experience.
But A Much Ado About Something is about making the investment in better stemware to showcase fine wines that one might be serving. And it is not just for expensive wines but for well priced wines which can also live up to a better experience for even the everyday experience. So regardless of your wine budget a small investment reward with a totally sensory experience that you will wonder how you did without better stemware.
For the upcoming Thanksgiving and New Years do you and your palate a favor and buy some Tulip glasses. If skeptical by one and pour side-by-side with a flute and see which you might prefer.
We all deserve the optimum experience in drinking wine!
Santé,
James
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