Hold It! Get Your Hands off the Bowl and On the Stem

I almost don’t want to mention it. It sounds so snobbish and I really don’t like to be snobby about wine. My philosophy is that wine should be a complement to life therefore if you are enjoying a wine with dinner or while hanging out by the pool, then it must be a good wine for the occasion at hand. Otherwise you wouldn’t be drinking it. But this particular “thing” I just can’t let slide by. It’s when people hold their wine glass by the bowl.

Some people may not know that the bowl is for holding the wine and the stem is the actual holder. Like the cup part is where you pour the coffee and the holder is where you “hold” the cup. But you would think that Hollywood types trying to pass off a whole show as hip and sophisticated would know better. Apparently, not. Case in point, the Sex and the City HBO series. The show centers around four brilliant, young, beautiful, “with-it” women who make enough money to live alone in Manhattan while still able to afford $400 a pair shoes. With all the sophistication surrounding this show, one would think that they would hold onto a glass of wine in proper form. I named myself the unofficial wine censor of this program and noted 100’s of times when Carrie or Miranda have sheepishly looked into the eyes of their respective dates and then man-handled a glass of wine; not very appealing.

“What difference does it make?” you ask. The difference is that when you hold the glass by the bowl the body heat you emit through your hands, however slight, is changing the elements of the wine in the glass. As a wine warms up, it will create vapors from its aromas that will enhance the wine tasting experience. If it warms up too quickly the aromas will dissipate at a faster rate and the flavor experience will be lost. Remember that we “taste” through our sense of smell. Moreover, most reds are already served way too warm and by giving it the added warmth of your hands, you are not getting the optimum wine that the winemaker had in mind. Let me put it in easier terms to understand. Holding your glass of wine by the bowl would be akin to pouring ketchup on Chateaubriand from Bern’s Steakhouse. You could do it but why?
If you have been guilty of holding your wine glass by the bowl, try holding it by the stem and see if it doesn’t make a difference to your wine experience.