How to Hold a Wine Glass (and Why the Stem Matters)

To hold a wine glass, pinch the stem between your thumb and your first two fingers, low down near the foot, or hold the glass by the foot itself. Keep your hand off the bowl. That keeps the warmth of your hand away from the wine, keeps the bowl free of fingerprints, and makes it much easier to swirl. Stemless glasses, flutes and big red wine glasses each have a small twist on the rule, covered below.

The short version

Glass	Where to hold it	Why
Stemmed wine glass	The stem, low down, or the foot	Wine stays at serving temperature; clean bowl; easy swirling
Stemless glass	Low on the glass, near the base	Less hand contact with the wine
Champagne flute or tulip	The stem	Keeps sparkling wine cold
Too-cold red	The bowl, briefly, on purpose	Your hand warms it up

How to hold a stemmed wine glass

1. Pinch the stem. Hold it between your thumb, index finger and middle finger. VinePair suggests gripping the stem near its base, a little lower than you might think, for better control.
2. Rest your other fingers lightly. Let your ring and little fingers rest on the foot or curl loosely beside the stem.
3. Or hold the foot. Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny says the proper method is to pinch the stem or hold the glass by its base. In our view, holding the foot between thumb and fingers feels a little more formal and is a good grip for a tasting.
4. Keep your palm off the bowl. That’s the whole point.

Dr. Vinny’s explanation for why so many people grip the bowl anyway: a wineglass is top-heavy, so people worry it will fall over, and holding it like a brandy snifter gives them a little more control. His fix is practice. Hold your glass properly for a few minutes a day until it feels natural.

Tip: If a large Bordeaux or Burgundy glass feels wobbly by the stem, slide your fingers lower, closer to the foot. VinePair’s advice to hold the stem lower than you think is about exactly that: control.

Why it matters

Temperature

Your hand is warmer than the wine. VinePair explains that warm palms heat the wine and speed up evaporation of the alcohol, which can make the wine turn duller more quickly. Dr. Vinny’s concern is the same: holding the bowl transfers body heat to the wine. This matters most for wines served chilled, like whites, rosé and sparkling wine.

There’s one exception. VinePair notes that some sommeliers cup the bowl on purpose when a red wine has been served too cold. If a red feels cold and muted, we’d wrap a hand around the bowl for a minute or two, then go back to the stem.

Fingerprints

Dr. Vinny says simply that he loathes fingerprints. For sommeliers, it’s practical: VinePair explains that smudges can get in the way of judging a wine by eye, including clues to its age. For everyone else, it’s a matter of a clean-looking glass at the table.

Swirling

Holding the stem turns the glass into an extension of your hand. VinePair says that allows wider, more controlled swirls with less risk of splashing, while gripping the bowl stifles your arm and limits the glass to short movements.

How to swirl wine

Wine Folly says swirling improves a wine in two ways: it lets some air into the wine, much like a quick decant, and it coats the glass with aromas you can then smell. It names two styles, a table-top swirl and a handheld (standing) swirl. Here’s how we’d approach them:

• The table-top swirl. Leave the glass on the table and move it in small circles, holding the foot or the bottom of the stem. In our view, this is the one to learn first, because the glass can’t fall.
• The handheld swirl. Lift the glass by the stem and move it in the same small circles in the air. Once the table-top version feels easy, this one follows.

Dr. Vinny’s first tip for learning to swirl is not to overfill the glass. Wine Folly adds one warning: don’t swirl sparkling wine unless you want to lose the bubbles. For what to look, smell and taste for once you’ve swirled, see our guide on how to taste wine.

How to hold a stemless wine glass

A stemless glass has no stem, so your hand has to touch the bowl. Dr. Vinny says he’s pretty relaxed about stemless glasses, and in his words, they’re better than a coffee mug. To keep the wine as cool as you can:

• Hold the glass low, near the base, with your fingertips rather than your whole palm.
• Pour smaller amounts of chilled wine and top up more often. That’s our habit for whites and rosé in a stemless glass.
• Set it down between sips rather than holding it the whole time.

Wine Folly says stemless crystal glasses are easier to maintain, and in our view they’re the natural choice for casual wine and outdoor use. For a pool or picnic, our guide to the best plastic wine glasses includes stemmed and stemless shatterproof options.

How to hold a Champagne flute or tulip glass

Hold a flute or tulip glass by the stem, always. Sparkling wine is served well chilled: the Comité Champagne recommends about 8 to 10°C (46 to 50°F) for Champagne, so in our view a warm hand on the bowl is the last thing it needs.

The Comité also recommends a tall, bulbous glass with a narrow top, shaped like a tulip, over a flute or a coupe, because the wider bowl lets the wine show its full character. In our view, the holding rule is the same whichever you choose: stem only, and no swirling.

How full to pour

• Still wine: Wine Folly says most wine glasses are designed to be filled less than half full, and to leave a little room in the glass to collect smells.
• Champagne and sparkling wine: the Comité Champagne suggests pouring in two stages, a little first, then slowly topping up until the glass is about two-thirds full.
• How much that is: the NIAAA counts 5 fl oz of table wine (at about 12% alcohol) as one standard drink. In a large red wine glass, 5 ounces looks small, and that’s fine.

Does the glass itself change how you hold it?

Not much, but the shape and weight do change how easy it is. A heavy, thick glass is stable by the stem; a very thin hand-blown glass feels delicate, and we’d hold it lower on the stem and set it down gently.

Common mistakes

• Cradling the bowl like a brandy snifter. Fine for a too-cold red, not for a chilled white.
• Filling the glass to the top. It leaves no room to swirl or to smell the wine.
• Swirling sparkling wine. You’ll lose the bubbles.
• Gripping the stem too high, right under the bowl. Your fingers end up on the bowl. Slide down toward the foot.