Guides
How to hold a wine glass
Tips for holding a red wine glass
Most of us probably already hold the wine glass the so-called correct way, and that's just great.
Below are also just a few funky moves that can help you further with the good wine experience.
Hold your wine glass by the stem
All stemmed wine glasses are best held by grasping the stem at the bottom of the glass. I prefer to hold the stem with my thumb and index finger and middle finger, and I let the two remaining fingers rest on the bottom of the glass.
In this way, it provides the greatest stability and best control of the glass when you toss the wine around.
Different ways to hold a glass of white wine:
There are countless variations of this technique, and they are all equally good. You can hold between your fingers, squeeze the stem or hold the foot itself.
The latter is often seen at standing tastings, parties or receptions, and is also suitable if you have to give a glass to someone else.
This is why wine glasses are held by the stem:
The primary reason is that the wine is not heated by the palms, and the serving temperature of the wine is not unimportant. Especially white wine glasses, champagne glasses and dessert wine glasses are important to keep cool while you enjoy the delicious drops.
Next, there are some who believe that oily fingerprints do not decorate a wine glass. If you hold onto the stem, you can also throw the wine into the glass with a little practice.
Gleefully toss the wine into the glass
Here we are at the forefront of a funky move that significantly improves your wine experience. Namely, tossing the wine around in the cup of the glass.
If you're not quite sold on the idea of slinging wine around in the glass, try this exercise. The next time you have a glass of wine, try to smell the freshly served wine in the glass without throwing the wine. Afterwards, give the wine a good swirl in the glass. Now put your nose to the wine and smell it again. As a result of the larger surface and evaporation of the aroma substances, there should now be a huge difference in the intensity of the wine's scent.
If you have not tried slinging wine into the glass before, it is a good idea to start by leaving the glass on the table while you sling the glass in a gentle centrifugal motion.
When you, and not least your wrist, have understood the movement, you can practice holding onto the stem of the wine glass while you sling the wine around.
That's why you throw wine into the glass:
You can also tell a wine geek from a long way off by the fact that the wine glass in hand is almost never still. More or less unconsciously and absent-mindedly, the wine gets a constant turn-around in the glass because the wine must have so much contact with the air to open up aromatically and structurally. The larger the surface, the more fragrance molecules are released for the pleasure of our noses.