A quick glance around a wine tasting or wine bar is showing a growing trend among wine enthusiasts. While there may be more people enjoying fine wine these days there is also more people who are holding their wine glasses improperly while they are doing so. The proper use of wine stemware is just as vital to the flavor as the proper use of wine decanters.
Wine glasses include long stems for a reason but many consumers of wine do not realize there is a proper way to hold this glass to ensure the wine tastes its best. For many holding a glass by its bowl is a habit that starts from a very early age. But a wine glass features a stem so that users will not hold it from the bowl and instead grasp that stem.
By using the stem instead of the bowl to hold the wine glass the temperature of the wine will remain at the optimal level longer. Warm hands on the bowl will raise the temperature quickly, which in turn will remove much of the flavor that is in the wine. This will also help keep fingerprints off the glass so the clarity of the wine can be viewed as well for a complete experience.