Which glasses are best for bubbles?
It doesn't really matter what type of glass you serve your bubbles in. The shape of the glass affects the taste experience and the atmosphere, just as you get different bubbles depending on which glass you choose.
The coupe glass - a wide and shallow bowl. The coupe has also been called the "Marie Antoinette glass" as it was rumored to be made in the shape of her breasts. Although this was indeed a rumor, the sophisticated glass shape was very popular in the early 20th century, and the glass evokes images of the parties of the "Great Gatsby era". The shallow bowl exposes the sparkling wine to more air, so the bubbles and aromas dissipate more quickly. On the other hand, there is a lot of style and aesthetics associated with the coupe.
The flute is an elegant tall glass with a thin bowl and a medium to long stem. If you are into maximum effervescence in your sparkling wine, this is the glass shape for you. The depth of the glass helps to retain carbonation, but the narrow opening of the mouth inhibits the ability to swirl the wine and allow aromas and flavors to develop with exposure to oxygen. This glass works well for young sparkling wines, where there is not the complexity of aromas and flavors that is found in an aged, vintage cava.
The tulip glass is shaped like a flute, but with a wider bowl that tapers towards the top, forming a tulip shape. Like the flute, the depth of this glass helps the sparkling wine hold its bubbles, but the wider bowl provides more space for the wine to aerate, allowing the more complex aromas and flavors to unfold.
The white wine glass is wider than a tulip glass, but not as wide as glasses designed for red wines. The sides of the glasses are usually straight, and the bowl is fairly deep. The extra width in turn allows more contact with the oxygen in the air, and this glass shape is particularly suitable when tasting a Premium cava.
There is no right or wrong when choosing a glass for your bubbles and our recommendation is that you should first and foremost choose a glass according to what you yourself want to drink from. Maybe you prefer to drink your cava from a gaffe cup and then that is the best for you.
