Champagne flute glasses

Start with the occasion. For a reception or a toast where you fill a lot of glasses quickly, small flutes of 9.5 to 16 cl work best: you pour a small amount more often, so nobody is left with lukewarm champagne. At the table, 20 to 26 cl is the usual size, filled to about two thirds. Roomier flutes of 30 to 35 cl are meant for those who want to smell their champagne as well, because the bowl there is wide enough to let the aroma gather.

After that, watch two details. A thin, uncut rim lets the bubbles run into the mouth undisturbed. And many flutes have a nucleation point on the bottom, a minute rough spot the carbon dioxide attaches to so that one neat string of pearls forms. If you would rather have the wide, shallow model that loses its bubbles faster but lets through more aroma, those are listed separately with the champagne coupe glasses.

Pour cold and at an angle. Champagne should enter the bowl at between 6 and 8 degrees, and you hold the glass tilted so the mousse runs down the wall instead of foaming up in the middle. Pour in two goes: first a thin layer, then wait for the foam to settle, then top up. That way you lose considerably less carbon dioxide than with one quick pour.

The flute is also the glass for sparkling cocktails you build in the glass. A mimosa is champagne with orange juice in equal parts, and a bellini replaces that juice with peach purée and prosecco. In both cases the juice goes into the glass first and the bubbles afterwards, otherwise it foams over. Keep the bottle in the champagne cooler between rounds, because a bottle that warms up fizzes far more violently at the next pour.

With champagne glasses, grease counts for more than with any other glass. A thin film of washing-up liquid, rinse aid or hand cream on the inside wall breaks the bubbles off as soon as they rise, and then the mousse stays away while there is nothing wrong with the bottle. So always rinse flutes thoroughly with hot water and use no rinse aid.

Drying is best done in the air, on a clean cloth and with the bowl upwards so the thin rim rests on nothing. If you do have to polish afterwards, use a lint-free cloth and hold the bowl rather than the foot. For the narrow inside, where no cloth fits, a glass brush with a long handle is the only tool that really works.

If you are looking for the wider range with coupes, tulips and everything in between, you will find it complete under the champagne glasses in the menu alongside. If you pour still white wine more often than bubbles, the white wine glasses are the logical next step. If you serve sparkling cocktails more often than pure champagne, a wide glass is more pleasant than a narrow bowl. And if you want to open a bottle the classic way, with a sabre instead of with your thumb, you will find that tool with the champagne sabres.