Is Flouting Flutes Falling Flat?
Tim Lemke at CheapWineRatings.com comes out of the closet:
I often tell people to toss aside the Champagne flutes and drink bubbly from a bigger glass. The reason is that I think aroma is an important part of the wine drinking experience with any wine, including sparkling wines, and you don’t get those aromas when you use a flute.
I always ask for a regular wine glass with sparkling wine, and up until recently I always got odd looks from the staff. Lately, however, servers have just replaced my glass without confusion, which leads me to believe that there must be other people making the same request.
Flutes are festive, but all you smell of the wine is the bubbles flutes are designed to preserve. If you really want to experience the wine, a regular white wine glass is preferable. As Dr. Vino notes, the Champagne house Charles Heidsieck recently advocated the use of larger glasses for its wines. Glass-for-every-cuvee manufacturer Riedel jumped on the bandwagon by designing a decanter just for Champagne. Maxmillian Riedel explains:
I decant to enrich the wine, not to lose the bubbles.
Which makes me wonder: as the Champagne coupe (purportedly designed after Marie Antoinette’s apparently teeny breasts) went from being the universal standard to being inexpensive stemware for affordable wedding rental, the flute may be on its way out as well.
December 7th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I still enjoy the tradition of using a flute with Champagne… just something about it!
Cheers!
December 7th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Last spring I attended a small trade tasting hosted by Max Riedel where he explained that since a lot of Champagne is made from the Pinot Noir grape, that is should be served in a Pinot Noir glass.
I have always used smaller bowled Chardonnay glasses, and haven’t discovered much advantage to using the slightly larger Pinot glasses so far.
I think that the death of the flute is still a long ways away. My guess is that a lot of the bubbly consumed is done so as a celebration or toast, by those who are not necessarily trying to get every possible aroma and flavor out of the wine they are drinking.
The tasting with Riedel was very eye-opening for me, and I have since switched to specific glassware while tasting for my store. I take every opportunity I can to explain to my customers how a certain glass can change the way you smell and taste a wine. However, I still can’t get over the fact that Max Riedel, designer of the ever so popular stemless glassware, went on for about five minutes on how you shouldn’t hold the bowl of a snifter because it warms the liquid inside, which in turn only allows the alcohol to come through on the nose.