Champagne flute or coupe?

Champagne for many people is a special wine to enjoy so will usually require a little more thought to what you should drink it from, in most occasions the decision will be between a flute or a coupe.

Which design is better for consumer enjoyment and which glass is best for aroma / flavour experience?

Flute: Scientists have stated that this style of glass will help both by showcasing the colour and bubbles better though it will also enhance the flavours. Design and style are still very fine and easy to use especially when Champagne is being drunk at social events. Flutes are the usual choice amongst media such as movies / magazine photography and more. Most people will relate a glass of Champagne to the shape of the flute glass.

 

Coupe: Elegant and traditional with the romance of a story that it was modelled on the breast of the French Queen Marie Antoinette, wife of King Louis XV of France.

“It wasn’t until 1750 that the English discovered that a long tall glass could vastly improve the taste of sparkling wines.”

A lot of Champagne drinking is the taste and aromas which many tests have proven that a flute / white wine / tulip style glass will both hold the bouquet better, increase the bubbles (especially if there are multiple laser-etched dots at the bottom of the glass) and enhance the flavours. Champagne drinking is also about elegance and impressing those around you so it will be about the style of glass which many will see a coupe winning in this competition.

 

2024: So flute or coupe- what do you prefer to drink your Champagne out of we ask GlassofBubbly founder Christopher Walkey:

“As you become more of a wine connoisseur, and now editing this post some 11 years later in 2024, both the flute and the coupe are neither the best glass to enjoy the finer aromas and flavours of Champagne. Shock, horror I hear you say, but it is a true Champagne drinker with many years of experience that will offer you a white wine glass over any alternative.” Christopher Walkey – Founder of GlassofBubbly.com

 

So the best glass for Champagne is a white wine glass or a big bowled glass so to allow greater contact with oxygen thus extracting the true aromas and flavours of the wine. What do you think?