Champagne glasses

For perfect enjoyment, you need the right Champagne glasses.

A major part of the enjoyment of Champagne is determined by the fragrances, the bouquet. Champagne glasses must fulfil certain criteria so that a bouquet can not only develop ideally, but also last.

A sensible champagne glass is colourless, clear, thin-walled, slightly bulbous and tapering towards the top, the classic tulip shape. Champagne is never filled almost to the brim, as is the case with mineral water or lemonade, but at most barely more than halfway up. This gives the flavours enough room to develop. This is the only way to ensure perfect enjoyment. The higher the quality of the champagne, the larger the champagne glass should be. For this reason, the range of champagne glasses does not offer just one champagne glass, but distinguishes between standard cuvée and vintage & prestige champagne.

The history of wine and champagne glasses is completely different. The history of viticulture is almost as old as mankind.

In the Middle Ages, this was the most common form of drinking cup in Europe. Although the pointed cup (shaped like a flute), still made of metal at the time, was already known and popular from the times of the Gallo-Roman civilisation in the 3rd/4th century.

With the invention of the art of glassblowing, the consumption of wine from glasses changed. The oldest known discovery dates back to 982, and beautiful pointed-cup glasses are known from Murano. Venice, a centre of early glass production in Europe, is largely responsible for the emergence of a new awareness of glass art and has been regarded as the Mecca of European glassblowing ever since. In 1295, the glass furnaces were banished from Venice to the small island group of Murano. Officially for fire safety reasons, but ultimately more likely due to the secrecy of glass production. Unauthorised passing on of knowledge was often punished with death.

In the 16th century, pointed goblet glass enjoyed great popularity in Europe. Large quantities of Murano glass were exported from Venice to the Netherlands and England. In the 18th century, the pointed goblet glass was generally recognised as a champagne glass in France and England. It was the fashionable glass for champagne.

Glasses in the shape of a bowl already existed around 1663. These bowl-shaped glasses were specially created, again by Venetian glassblowers, for the Duke of Buckingham. The bowls were designed solely for the consumption of champagne, which at the time was still wine. It was only with the Benedictine monk Dom Perignon, who worked as cellar master at the Abbey of Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers, that the champagne of today was invented by chance, which was initially more of a misfortune. The popularity of the bowl shape for champagne grew over the course of more than 200 years, but was never able to fully establish itself.

The most famous bowls were made of Sèvres porcelain from the 18th century. They adorned the dairy of Château Rambouillet. Château Rambouillet was the private residence of Louis XVI, King of France and Queen Marie Antoinette from 1783. The champagne bowls became famous because they were modelled on the bosom of Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), according to legend.

In this day and age, true champagne lovers would never use a champagne bowl or a champagne goblet to enjoy their champagne. Champagne to enjoy. Both forms are completely unsuitable for Sparkling wineespecially for champagne. The champagne cup in particular, with its oversized surface, allows the bubbles to escape too quickly, the bouquet cannot be captured and the champagne warms up much faster than necessary. If you have to choose between the two options, you should go for the pointed goblet. It is only a poor emergency solution, but the better of the two.

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