Flutes, coupes and tulip glasses each behave differently with sparkling wine. A guide to choosing and ordering the right glass for your event.
Flutes, coupes and tulip glasses each behave differently with sparkling wine. A guide to choosing and ordering the right glass for your event.
The glass you serve sparkling wine in affects how long the bubbles last, how the wine smells and how the table photographs. These three glass shapes are the main options for hire, and they each behave differently.
The tall, narrow flute minimises the surface area of the wine, which slows bubble loss. A properly filled flute keeps its carbonation for 20-30 minutes, making it the right choice for a drinks reception where glasses sit for a while before being drunk. It photographs well in a row on a tray, and it's the glass most guests expect for a champagne toast.
The drawback is limited bowl space. Flutes don't allow the wine to breathe, which mutes the aroma. For a quality vintage champagne, a flute undersells it. For prosecco or cava at a reception, it's exactly adequate.
The wide, shallow coupe is fashionable for weddings, vintage-themed events and art deco styling. It loses carbonation quickly, typically within five minutes of pouring, because the large surface area releases CO2 fast. For a drinks reception where glasses are topped up regularly and guests drink quickly, this isn't a problem. For a table where the glass will sit for 20 minutes before the toast, the wine will be flat before it's drunk.
Coupes are the only choice for a champagne tower. The flat base allows stable stacking. A 5-tier pyramid uses approximately 55 coupes — order the tower quantity separately from the reception glasses so you have enough of both.
The tulip sits between the other two. The bowl is wider than a flute, which releases more aroma, but narrower than a coupe, which retains carbonation better than the saucer shape. Sommeliers increasingly prefer tulip glasses for quality champagne and sparkling wine for this reason. Visually, the shape is distinctive on a table and photographs well.
For an event where the sparkling wine is the feature rather than the backdrop, a tulip glass is the better choice over a flute.
One glass per guest for a toast. If you're doing a champagne tower, the tower itself uses a significant quantity of glasses: a 5-tier tower uses approximately 55 coupes. Order the tower glasses and the toast glasses as separate line items so you have enough of both and don't run short at the moment the tower is poured.
For a drinks reception with sparkling wine, allow 1.5 to 2 glasses per guest. Guests put glasses down and pick up fresh ones; a reception of 100 guests will go through 150-200 glasses over 90 minutes. Add 10% for breakage. For 100 guests, order 160-180 flutes or tulip glasses.
For events with a champagne tower and a full drinks reception, you'll need both coupe and flute glasses. Confirm with the hire company that both styles are available in matching quality — consistent glass clarity and rim weight matters on a formal table. Mixing thick coupes with thin flutes on the same tray looks mismatched.
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