Chef & Sommelier Exaltation

The 38 cl wine glass is the smallest and is suitable for white wine that you want to keep chilled. The 47 cl is the size that works for most tables, suitable for red and full-bodied white wines. The 55 cl is intended for powerful red wine and gives it enough air to open up. With sparkling wines, it’s different: the 30 and 35 cl flutes are more spacious than the narrow flutes you’re used to, allowing more aroma to emerge from the champagne. For more sizes, see the red wine glasses and the champagne flute glasses.

Hold the glass by the stem, not the bowl, as this length also makes that the most natural. Pour wine to about one-third full and champagne to just over halfway, leaving the bubbles room to rise. Pouring at an angle works better for bubbles than pouring straight down. A wide flute is also the better shape for a Kir Royal or a French 75, where you also want to smell the gin and liqueur.

A long stem sounds fragile, but here it joins the bowl without a glued or fused seam; bowl, stem and foot are drawn from a single piece of glass. That seam is exactly where cheap wine glasses break. The dishwasher is fine on a short programme, but give the stems room in the basket. In the cupboard, stand them upright rather than on the rim.

If you want a lower, more stable bowl for everyday use, the other series from Chef & Sommelier are a more logical starting point. If you’re looking for even more spacious bowls for Burgundy, you’ll find them among the large wine glasses. And if you serve champagne at the table, one of the champagne coolers keeps the bottle at the right temperature without having to put it away.