For those that have both/ have used both. What’s your preference for champagne? I currently use GGG but find that the nose can be a little muted and the bubbles are pretty much gone, not that it really bothers me.
it really depends on the champagne. for my tastes, more than any other wine. i have the champagne, white, universal, and Bordeaux and they all have their merits for different champagnes, and they all show rather differently. i tend to prefer the champagne glass and the universal the most, it seems.
I’ve brought multiple glasses to Champagne dinners and tried various Champagnes from different glasses. Sometimes I greatly prefer the Zalto Champagne glass, sometimes I greatly prefer the White Wine or Universal.
They emphasize different aspects of the Champagne. Unfortunately I can’t predict ahead of time which I’ll prefer.
I also use both white and Champagne from Zalto, but have yet to try the Universal. I agree with Jay, but I will say that most often company prefers the Champagne. It’s a small study which may be largely based on custom or esthetics.
further, it’s interesting to see the champagne glasses that have been designed by various houses. the krug glass is kind of like a bigger version of the zalto champagne (and is a really fantastic glass) and the ruinart glass is also quite different. when DP launched the 2004 rose, they served it - to amazing results - in what we’d all consider a red burgundy glass. i suppose the bubbles, their size, pressure, etc., add a level of complexity re: glass optimization that still wines don’t have.
Same can be said for virtually any decanter. A $1 plastic pitcher works just about as well as decanting as anything else, so beyond that you are just paying for handblown glass and design. I have a nice crystal decanter for special occasions but on a regular basis, I use a $20 glass carafe.
For a (refreshing) change, I am not the biggest wine nerd in the room!
We really need some kind of merit badge system, Jay’s diligence and thoroughness here would surely merit eagle status.
I thought comparing the GGG against the Zalto white and Zalto champagne glasses was pretty impressive, but it was done against a single Blanc de Blancs on a single occasion and included no other stems of any kind. I bow my in shame and realization that there’s the whole world out there I’ve been missing. The terra incognito of stemware, as it were. Vasco de Gama I ain’t.