People only just realising how you should actually hold a wine glass

A sommelier has revealed the proper way to hold your wine glass depending on what you're drinking.

Yep, you've probably been holding your wine glass wrong your whole life.

And yes, you should care about it because it's not just about how you look when you're holding it, but how your wine ends up tasting as a result of how you wrap your fingers round.

Pexels/ Aline Aronsky

Sommelier and Wine Enthusiast Tasting Director Anna-Christina Cabrales tells WineEnthusiast.com there are three main reasons it's important to think about how you hold your wine glass.

The first, because depending on where you place your hand, the heat of your body may warm up your wine - a no no if you're drinking white wine. So keep those sweaty palms away.

Another reason for knowing the proper wine glass-holding etiquette is because it can affect the actual flavour of the wine.

Red wine drinkers will know the importance of aeration - well, saying that, I love red wine, but just take whatever the cheapest bottle is on the shelf so that says a lot.

According to Wine Enthusiast, our 'sense of smell is more responsible than taste in the perception of flavour' and so how we're holding our glass to swirl our wine and waft it's smell into our nostrils can have a big impact on how much we enjoy it.

Last and probably least - depending on how much of a tidy-upper or classy person you are - your fingers may leave prints, dirt or grease on the glass which isn't always nice to look at but also apparently change the smell you get from the wine too according to Cabrales.

So, how do you hold a wine glass properly?

Pexels/ Julia Kuzenkov

Well, you can either use the 'thumb and forefinger' technique, letting your other fingers rest at the base. Or you can pinch at the stem like its a mug; pinch at the base so your other fingers are resting underneath the base; or lever at the thumb, only your thumb poking above as your other fingers support from below.

A video by Four Points Prishtina demonstrates with certain glasses and types of drink.

The first - a white wine - you pinch as far away as you can from the wine.

However, red wine you can pinch nearer the top of the stem - red wine not needing to stay as chilled.

When it comes to a whiskey glass, the video shows a waitress cupping the bottom.

And for a champagne flute or a martini glass it's a similar pinching of the stem, just slightly higher on a cocktail glass to gain a bit of balance.

Pexels/ Elina Sazonova

Redditers had some other suggestions for how to hold a wine glass properly.

One user said: "I don't. I use a crazy straw."

Another questioned: "Nobody else just drinks out of the decanter?"

And a final resolved: "I hold a wine glass any damn way I want."

Topics: Food and Drink, TikTok, Social media

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.