Loading
Would you buy the finest caviar or lobster and then serve it on a plastic plate and eat it with a plastic knife and spoon?
I doubt it, but people frequently pay out quite a few $ , or whatever, on champagne and then drink it from a glass that's pretty much useless as far as getting the best from the champagne.
What a shame when with a little help you can certainly get double the pleasure from your champagne.
So here you'll find a few dos and don'ts about champagne glasses
The first question is 'Do you choose a flute or a coupe?' Let me explain...
Flute glasses (actually in French there's an accent over the u as in flte) are the tall, thin glasses that have caught on since about the 1970s, but that hasn't always been the case.
Throughout most of the 20th century, the saucer-shaped glass called a coupe was in fashion.
Coupe glasses can be a lot of fun. They conjure up images of riotous cocktail parties in the 1920s with people doing the Charleston, but they go back a lot further than that because legend tells us that the shape was modelled on the breasts of Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI of France at the end of the 18th century.
Coupes are ideal for serving champagne cocktails, but there's no doubt that, if you want to appreciate the full spectrum of pleasures you can get from champagne, a flute is a much better option.
Why? Well, for one thing you can see the stream of bubbles floating up the length of the glass and the bubbles, after all, are one of the main attractions of champagne.
Second and more important, the tall, slim shape concentrates the aromas so that when you lift the flute to drink you can also take in and appreciate the full concentration of the aromas.
If you use a coupe the aromas of the champagne quickly dissipate sideways and you simply don't get the fullness of aromas that you do with a flute.
Something else you may have heard about coupe glasses is that the fizz disappears more quickly than in a flute. This is a bit of an old wives' tale because it takes at least an hour for champagne to lose its sparkle and I'd be willing to bet it doesn't take you an hour to finish your glass of champagne
So, go for coupes if that's what you really like, but be aware of the disadvantages.
Next, what type of flute should you choose? Here are 5 things to bear in mind
Champagne glasses should be:
1 ) Fine and elegant, i.e the glass should be thin.
Look at it this way: it's like drinking tea. You can serve tea in a fine bone china tea cup or from a porcelain mug, but depending on which you choose, you'll have a different experience.
Don't, for goodness sake, choose those thick, dumpy flutes that you all too often get in hotels and at large events.
They simply don't bring out anything in the champagne.
This is a pity because caterers should know better and you can be sure they won't offer you any reduction in the price to make up for using cheap glasses
2 ) Light, not too heavy when you pick the glass up.
Champagne is a light, bubbly drink that raises your mood, so you don't want a heavy, clunky glass.
If you like heavy lead crystal glass that's your prerogative but for me, clear, feather-light glasses are better - almost as if the glass doesn't exist.
3 ) Fairly tall with a long stem.
The stem is for holding so make sure the stem is long enough to get your hand around. A tall glass is also more elegant which is what champagne is all about.
4 ) Not too narrow
To release the aromas in any wine you need to swirl the wine around a bit in the glass, so don't choose anything that's too narrow, or you just can't get any movement in the wine.
5 ) Right shape
The top of the glass should really turn in slightly so as to concentrate the aromas towards your nose when you drink.
That's the reason the most effective flutes are shaped slightly inwards at the top (like the shape of a tulip), whilst those that splay out at the top (like the shape of a lily) allow some of the aromas to escape.
If you keep these 5 simple tips in mind you won't go far wrong and you'll be amazed at what a difference it makes to your champagne.
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Why not join our global community of champagne lovers? Youll receive lots more fascinating information about champagne, particularly about small independent grower champagnes, and lots more. Take a look at Mad About Bubbly and leave your contact details now. Then follow my blog to learn even more about champagne flutes and lots more.Jiles Halling is a champagne specialist who lived and worked for Mot & Chandon in the heart of the Champagne region for many years. He now lives full time in Champagne.And has a wealth of knowledge about champagne and in particular the lesser-known independent grower champagnes.