Home › Home & Kitchen › Kitchen & Dining › Dining & Entertaining › Glassware & Drinkware › Wine Glasses How to Hold a Wine Glass Published: July 9, 2026 · Updated: July 10, 2026
Hold a wine glass by the stem, not the bowl — pinch the stem low between your thumb and first two fingers, or steady it by the foot. Gripping the stem keeps your hand's warmth off the wine and leaves the bowl clear of fingerprints so you can see the colour.
Recommended Hold the stem low between thumb and two fingers — never cup the bowl — There is a practical reason wine is served in stemmed glasses: the stem is a handle that keeps your hand away from the wine. Pinch the stem near the bottom, close to the foot, between your thumb and first one or two fingers — this gives good control and a steady glass. The point is to keep your palm off the bowl, because body heat quickly warms a chilled white or sparkling wine, and fingers leave smudges that hide the wine's colour and clarity. Hold it low rather than high for balance and so the glass looks elegant. To swirl and release the aroma, either keep the foot on the table and move it in small circles, or make small circles from the wrist once you're confident. Stemless glasses have no handle, so hold them near the base, accept that they warm faster, and cradle them by the very bottom when you want the wine to stay cold. For a formal tasting, holding by the foot — thumb on top, fingers underneath — keeps the bowl completely clear.
