Glasses

Flute, coupe or wine glass

Research gives some reasons behind the advice. In the first 15 minutes, gaseous CO2 near the rim of a flute was roughly two to three times higher than above a coupe, because the narrow opening concentrates the gas.³ In a coupe, the low level of wine leaves part of the liquid near the edge almost still, while bubbles mix the whole flute.⁴ More on flute or coupe.

Engraved glasses

Some glasses have laser-engraved spots at the bottom that act as permanent bubble sources. In a Reims symposium paper, a single spot produced one bubble train that did not mix the wine, while a ring of 50 spots mixed the whole glass, with liquid speeds up to about 9 cm/s.⁴ If you like a lively, steady stream of bubbles, an engraved glass gives one even when the glass has no cloth fibres.

Washing and drying

The Comité Champagne advises washing glasses in hot water without detergent, then letting them air-dry or drying them with a cotton cloth, to avoid problems with bubble formation.^1,2 Fibres left by a cloth are, in fact, where most bubbles are born.⁵ See how a bubble is born.