SPOTLIGHT ON - To coupe or to flute?

A common enquiry among our gallery visitors relates to the fact that they seldom seem to find any Champagne coupes among our crystal collection. We always tell them not to despair, as there is a valid reason for such a deliberate omission. Let us explain…

Champagne coupes, known also as champagne ‘saucers’, have a wide rim and a short stem. It is also a fairly shallow glass. In fact, the “coupes” are the oldest type of champagne glasses and a few funny tales have been doing the rounds since the inception of these glamorous drinking glasses. Here are just a few:

• Marie Antoinette (1755-1793): This narcissistic French queen (wife of Louis XVI) was said to have had champagne glasses fashioned from casts of her breasts so courtiers could drink to her health from them.

• Madame du Pompadour (1721-1764): This mistress of France's Louis XV supposedly had the glasses crafted as a special gift for her imperial lover who it was said greatly admired her breasts and longed to be able to drink champagne from them.

• Madame du Barry (1743-1793): The same story told about du Pompadour is also told of du Barry, another mistress of France's Louis XV.

• Empress Josephine (1763-1814): This wife of Napoleon had a great fondness for the bubbly (her champagne bills were said to have horrified her husband), so it's not surprising this legend would attach to her.

• Diane de Poitiers (1499-1566): This mistress of Henry II was said to have commissioned a glassblower at their Chateau d'Anet to make them as a present to Henry, who was particularly enamored of her breasts and harbored a fantasy to drink wine from them. In another version of the tale, Henry was the one who came up with this idea, and the mold was solely of her left breast.

• Helen of Troy: Helen was said to possess "the face that launched a thousand ships," a reference to her husband, Menelaus, coming after her and her lover, Paris, with a force of thousands. It is said Paris made wax molds of her breasts, then used those molds as forms for drinking glasses.

No matter whose breast inspired this shallow drinking vessel, the facts state that Champagne was invented in the 17th century when a Benedictine monk discovered a way to trap bubbles of carbon dioxide in wine. As for the glass, it was designed and made in England especially for champagne around 1663, a chronology that rules out du Barry, du Pompadour, Josephine, and Marie Antoinette, all of whom were born long after the coupe came into existence. As for de Poitiers, she died a century before either the glass or the beverage was invented.

Coupes remained very popular till the early 20th century, but have since been surpassed by the “flute” glass.

Champagne flutes are a tall yet narrow glass that has a medium to long stem. Many of them have a nucleation point at the bottom of the glass, a deliberate roughened bead at the base of the flute where bubbles gather. The bubbles then stream up the middle of the glass; the mousse remains in the wine longer and there is little danger of spillage because of the narrow mouth. The flute is mostly appropriate for younger, bolder champagnes and other sparkling wines. Additionally, the shape allows the wine’s aromatics to concentrate, so that it will bring a more pronounced nose. Flutes concentrate the bubbles and the bouquet, heightening the champagne experience, whereas coupes encourage the Champagne to warm and go flat quickly.

One thing that all oenophiles agree these days is that it might be useful to use them to serve ice cream or chocolate pudding, but should never be used to serve champagne or sparkling wine in coupes. The weakness of the design for this glass is apparent; the bubbles dissipate quickly due to the large area exposed to air, and spillage is a constant problem.

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