You don’t often see champagne saucers anymore, you know, those wide glasses that look sort of like martini glasses,
but they seem to have been the
preferred glass for champagne up until about 25 years ago, at which point they began to be supplanted by flutes.
On the other hand, in the 1954 movie Sabrina, William Holden’s character injures his backside by sitting down on
a champagne flute, so at least some people must have been using them, then.
So what would be the particular advantages of either type glass?
shudder Champagne “saucers” are the WORST way to drink champagne. I don’t know who came up with those things, but you stand a high chance of ruining a good bottle of champagne if you drink out of saucers. Even a wine glass would be better.
Think about it - Champagne is bubbly. Part of the pleasure of a good Champagne or sparkling wine is that it’s effervescent. You really, really want to preserve the bubbles as much as possible - ever drink flat Champagne? It’s not very good.
Bubbles escape at the surface of the Champagne. Thus, more surface area = more bubbles escaping. A saucer is pretty much all surface area, so unless you drink pretty fast, you’re going to have flat champagne in a fairly short while.
A flute, on the other hand, is designed to reduce surface area. A properly washed and dried flute has very little surface irregularities, so fewer bubbles are formed, and fewer escape because of the small surface area. Thus, when you sip from a flute, you’re getting the full effect of the champagne, bubbles and all.
The aroma of the champagne is more concentrated in a flute. Flutes are also more practical for cocktail parties and other events where the guests may be standing. They are much less likely to spill, which is the main reason they were used long before we understood the impact stemware has on our wine/champagne enjoyment.
I think that’s a record. Proof once again that the Dopers are right on the spot when it comes to the really important stuff :D.
And I always believed the same thing as Athena, though I’m curious as to how the saucer tradition arose. My wife and I honeymooned at the Miramar in Montecito, CA, and when they
brought saucers with the champagne, I sent them back and asked them to bring regular wine glasses, since that was the
best they could do.
Champagne “saucers” (they are actually called coupes) were supposedly modelled after Marie Antoinette’s breast. While that’s a nice little story, it’s not true. Another piece of trivia, the first known example of a coupe was actually made of porcelain, not glass. Flutes started appearing in the early to mid 1900s, mostly for the spillage reason I referred to above.
If you happen to have a set of coupes, don’t toss them. They do make lovely sundae glasses.
javaman, Mr. Athena and I drink a LOT of Champagne. We almost always have 4-6 bottles around, at least two in the fridge. Sheesh, last year we bought a case for New Year’s Eve, and it was gone by Christmas so we had to buy another one. So obviously, your post caught my eye.
A cousin of mine in the catering business told me once that he served champagne mostly for groups and that group coupes were easier to fill.
Easier to spill, too, I’d think.