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How to hold a wine glass (and what it says about you)

Megan Blandford

How to hold a wine glass
How to hold a wine glassAdrian Lander

Maybe you've noticed others hold their glass differently, or perhaps you're worried that your style looks amateurish at the cellar door.

Maybe you haven't noticed your glass-holding style at all (although you will now).

Clare Burder runs wine education courses through her business, The Humble Tumbler, and she says there's a certain charm to how an expert will hold their glass. "There's something about the confidence of holding a glass well, that you can tell immediately if someone is in the wine trade," she says.

Generally, you'd hold a wine glass by the stem. "The thumb and first two fingers might go around the stem, and then underneath the base of the glass are the other two fingers," Burder describes.

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It's worth trying this at home first, so you're comfortable with your new style before going out. "If you want to learn how to swirl wine (while holding it by the stem), start with the base of the glass on the table and spin it around," Burder suggests.

The nation drinks more white wine than red.
The nation drinks more white wine than red.Supplied

Why it matters

Don't spill your wine

"Firstly, it's for stability," says Burder. "If you're trying to swirl your wine, you don't want to spill it or drop the glass. You really need a bit of control over the glass."

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Temperature control

"The reason wine glasses have stems is to protect the temperature of the wine; if you hold the bowl of the glass, you're going to increase the temperature," says Burder. "If you're drinking a red wine in winter, that might be okay, but with white wines you generally want to keep the temperature down."

Avoid fingerprints

Some people dislike having fingerprints around the bowl of their wine glass. While this is partly just personal preference, "I guess it's also about seeing the clarity and the colour of the wine," says Burder.

Hold it right for swirling

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Swirling can be an important part of enjoying a good wine, helping you to get more out of the aromatics. "Swirling increases the surface area of the wine so it has more exposure to the atmosphere, and the aromatics come out more easily," Burder explains.

What it says about you

One UK researcher analysed 500 people's glass-holding styles and came up with some ideas about what it says about each of us. Apparently if you hold your glass with dainty, splayed fingers you're a flirt, those who hold it by the bowl are gossipers, while a wallflower will hold their glass protectively and perhaps with two hands.

Woman drinking white wine on patio
Woman drinking white wine on patioDo you hold by the cup or the stem? Hero Images

Then again … maybe it doesn't matter at all

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Once you have knowledge about how to hold your wine glass, you can go ahead and break all the rules.

Gippsland winemaker Patrick Sullivan says many people are now realising it doesn't matter how you hold a glass, as long as you have a glass of wine in your hand.

"If you're at a party and having a good time you might be drinking out of a mug, or you could be at a fancy restaurant where the glass has a long, slender stem and it's all about the balance of the glass," Sullivan says. "If the mood is to enjoy it and to socialise, you don't want to be concentrating on how you're holding the glass."

Yes, even the experts are moving away from encouraging the mysteries around wine, and getting back to the experience of the wine itself. "For winemakers, it's not about having different wines in different glasses or holding the glass in a certain way, it's about the mood and how the wine makes you feel," says Sullivan.

Burder agrees with the idea that, while knowledge is power, there's a beauty in doing things your own way.

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"Having rules perpetuates the idea that you don't know anything and the 'experts' know everything," she says. "These days people realise they don't have to be experts to enjoy wine."

"There's a confidence in just doing it however you want to do it, and if you don't drop the glass then you're successful."

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