For National Prosecco Day this year, try serving your Prosecco DOCG in white wine glasses

Argh, the tyranny of the flute!

For more than a generation now, the flute — the slender, long-stemmed wine glass — has been the vessel of choice for sparkling wine.

No one knows for sure how this traditional was established. But somewhere during the late 20th century, the flute, which was actually conical in its original form (a shape dating back to the 1700s), was reshaped into a long cylinder.

The idea, at the time, was to concentrate and preserve the wine’s bubbles, supposedly making the wine’s aroma richer on the nose.

But over the last two decades, top sommeliers have overwhelming shifted to the white wine glass as the stemware of choice for Prosecco DOCG.

Prosecco DOCG, they argue, is such a “pretty” wine on the nose, with aromas of tropical fruit and stone fruit. Even the most simple experimentation reveals that the broader aperture of the white wine glass helps the fruit notes on the nose to open up and reveal themselves more generously. The wider brim allows the wine to aerate more evenly by putting more of its surface area in contact with oxygen. The result — especially when it comes to Prosecco DOCG — is truly spectacular. Thankfully, it’s rare today that you’ll find leading sommeliers who still pour Prosecco DOCG in a flute.

Next Tuesday, August 13 is National Prosecco Day in the U.S. How will you and your wine loving friends be celebrating?

Our recommendation is to host a Prosecco DOCG tasting party where you try serving the wine in both flutes and white wine glasses. Add a couple of red wine glass shapes to the mix as well: You’ll see that the nature of the tasting experience changes markedly depending on the glass shape. And when it’s Prosecco DOCG that’s being poured, the wider aperture makes a real difference in how you enjoy the wine.