Show Notes

Minisode #3: The right way to hold a wine glass

Hi everyone, and welcome to this next mini-episode of The Wine Pair Podcast! I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair.

What is a minisode you ask? Minisodes are short tastings of The Wine Pair Podcast meant to be fun and educational, and offer you the chance to learn at your own pace. Maybe you want to listen to all of these at once, and maybe you just want to snack a bit. Whatever is ok with us! 

In this minisode we are going to discuss the proper way to hold a wine glass.

I have to admit, Carmela, this is one of those places where my snobbiness comes out. And I do think this is one of those areas where people are like - really?!? - is this about tradition, or is there a real reason for it?

This was actually one of those things that your father taught me about really early on - as your father is sort of my wine mentor. He was very clear with me - you always hold a wine glass by the stem and not by the bulb.

But, people hold wine by the bulb all the time. Why do you think that is?

One thing I will say off the bat is that I really don’t like stemless glasses, and those are really only appropriate for wines that are casually drunk. Why do you think that is?

What do you think the right way to  hold a stemmed wine glass, which is the the best glass to use when drinking wine?

• The traditional way is to hold the glass by the stem, pinching the stem between your thumb and forefinger
  • First, this keeps your fingerprints off of the glass, which is important not just because it is gross to see your greasy fingerprints, but because it allows you to clearly see the wine.
  • Second, it makes swirling the wine easy. Swirling wine when you hold it by the globe is very difficult to do. Swirling, as we discussed in a previous episode, is important in getting the full flavor of the wine. 
  • Third, it keeps the wine from getting heated up by the heat from your hands. Wine is actually meant to be consumed at a temperature somewhat below room temperature or lower, and holding it in your hand heats it up. 
• A less traditional way, but something seen from time to time is to hold the glass by the base or bottom. This seems fancy to me, and covers most of the reasons not to hold the glass by the bulb, but it doesn’t really lend itself well to swirling, and doesn’t seem to balance the glass as well when holding it. 
  • The one time when holding a wine glass by the base is helpful is when you are decanting wine and need a firmer grip on the glass and want to make sure it doesn’t tip

If you must use a stemless glass, just be conscious of how much your hand is in contact with the wine. You want to be careful about heating up the wine too much. You have already screwed up getting fingerprints on the glass! 

There are people who like to hold wine by the bowl and some that like to hold it up by the rim. Holding it by the bowl is frowned upon for the reasons mentioned above. It just kind of shows that you really don’t know much about wine.

Holding it by the rim is just an accident waiting to happen, and more than showing you don’t know much about wine, it also shows that you are probably not drinking a wine worth savoring and you are ready to chug. 

https://home.binwise.com/blog/hold-a-wine-glass#:~:text=The%20proper%20way%20to%20hold%20a%20wine%20glass%20is%20by,the%20stem%20meets%20the%20base 

Ok, that’s it for this minisode. Check out our other minisodes to learn more, and send us a note if you want us to cover other subjects. You can follow us on Instagram and Twitter, you can visit our website thewinepairpodcast.com and in any of those places you can reach out to us directly. We also will have our show notes on our website, and we will include links to articles on this topic as well. 

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