Wine 101 · Serving
How to Hold a Wine Glass Like a Sommelier
Watch a table of guests at a tasting and you will see every grip there is: fingers wrapped around the bowl, a thumb hooked over the rim, a glass held up by its base like a trophy. Most of them work well enough, but one works best, and for practical reasons.
A wine glass has a stem for the same reason a coffee mug has a handle, which is to keep your hand away from what you are drinking. Seen that way, holding the glass properly has less to do with manners than with a small, sensible habit.
How should you hold a wine glass?
Hold a wine glass by the stem, between your thumb and first two fingers, with the other fingers resting lightly on the stem or the base. Keep your hand off the bowl. The heat of your hand then stays away from the wine, and the glass stays clear enough for you to see what is in it.
Pinch the stem about halfway down, the way you might hold a pencil. It feels light at first, especially with a full glass. A glass poured to about a third is easy to hold like this, and one filled to the brim is harder, which is one more reason to pour a little less.
- Pinch the stem between your thumb and index finger.
- Let your middle finger rest on the stem underneath for support.
- Rest the last two fingers on the stem or the foot of the glass.
- Keep your palm and fingertips off the bowl.
Why do you hold a wine glass by the stem?
Your hand is warm, and wrapping it around the bowl slowly heats the wine. That matters most for whites, rosé and sparkling wine, which are served cool. Fingers on the bowl also leave smudges that make it harder to see the color and clarity of the wine. Holding the stem takes care of both problems.
Your hand sits close to 98 degrees Fahrenheit, and a white wine is served much cooler than that, a sparkling wine cooler still. Keep your palm around the bowl for ten minutes and the wine drifts up toward room temperature. It changes how the wine feels in the mouth, and it happens slowly enough that you rarely notice. Our guide to wine serving temperature gives the right range for each style.
Then there is seeing. At a tasting, the first thing we ask guests to do is look at the wine, tilting the glass against something white to check the color at the edge. Fingerprints on the bowl get in the way of that.
How do you hold a wine glass to swirl it?
The easiest way to swirl is with the base of the glass on the table. Hold the stem low, near the foot, and move the glass in small circles on the tablecloth. The wine climbs the sides of the bowl and mixes with air. Once that feels comfortable, you can lift the glass and swirl it in the air.
Swirling looks like a flourish, but it does a job. It spreads the wine over more of the glass and brings it into contact with air, so the wine has opened up a little by the time you smell it. Starting on the table is steadier, and the wine ends up in the glass rather than on your shirt. The thin trails that run down the glass afterward have a name and an explanation, which we cover in wine legs and swirling.
How do sommeliers hold a wine glass?
The stem grip described here is the one to learn first. Some sommeliers go a step further and hold the glass by its foot, pinching the flat base between thumb and fingers, which puts the hand as far from the wine as it can go. That grip takes practice, so try it once swirling by the stem feels natural.
How do you hold a stemless wine glass?
Hold a stemless glass low, near its base, with your fingertips rather than your whole palm. You will still warm the wine a little, so pour smaller amounts more often. Stemless glasses suit casual meals, picnics and red wines served near room temperature. For cool whites and sparkling wine, a stemmed glass does a better job.
Stemless glasses are sturdy, they go in the dishwasher, and they are hard to knock over on a crowded table. Those are good reasons to own some, as long as you know what you give up. With your hand on the bowl, the wine warms faster and the glass smudges more. A smaller pour, topped up more often, keeps the wine closer to where it started.
How do you hold a glass of sparkling wine?
Hold a flute or a white wine glass by the stem, like any other wine glass. With sparkling wine it matters even more, because it is served the coldest of all and warms quickly in the hand. Holding the stem also keeps the glass clear, so you can watch the fine bubbles rise from the bottom.
We make our sparkling wines by the méthode champenoise, and they rest more than ten years on the lees before they leave the cellar. Sébastien comes from six generations of a Champagne winegrowing family. After all that time in the cellar, we like to see the glass held by the stem, so the wine reaches you as cold as we served it.
How do you clink glasses for a toast?
Hold your glass by the stem and touch the bowls together gently at their widest point. Avoid rim-to-rim contact, because the rim is the thinnest part of the glass and the most likely to chip. Look at the person you are toasting while you do it. The sound comes from the bowl, and a light touch is enough.
The grip in five points
- Hold the stem between your thumb and first two fingers.
- A warm hand on the bowl warms the wine, whites and sparkling most of all.
- A clean bowl shows you the color and clarity of the wine.
- Swirl with the base on the table until the motion comes easily.
- Hold a stemless glass low and pour smaller amounts.
Practice the grip at a tasting
With five glasses in front of you, the grip becomes natural quickly. In our Educational Wine Tasting we pour five wines side by side and walk you through looking at, swirling, smelling and tasting each one. It follows our guide on how to taste wine, done at a table with the people who made the wine.
Sit down with five glasses and learn how we taste.
Common questions about holding a wine glass
Is it rude to hold a wine glass by the bowl?
Nobody at our tasting room will mind. The stem is simply more practical, because it keeps the wine at the temperature it was served and the glass free of fingerprints.
Do you hold a red wine glass differently?
Hold it the same way, by the stem. Red wine is served warmer than white, so a hand on the bowl matters a little less, but the stem still keeps the glass clear and makes swirling easier.
Why do some people hold the glass by the base?
Holding the flat foot of the glass keeps the hand as far from the wine as possible, and some sommeliers prefer it. It takes practice, and most guests find the stem easier and just as effective.
Written by
The Domaine LeSeurre Team
Céline & Sébastien LeSeurre and the team at Domaine LeSeurre — a family winery on Keuka Lake, in Hammondsport, New York. French roots, Finger Lakes soul.
