This is Moët’s new champagne glass that every champagne drinker will want
Do you love champagne (is that even a question?), then I have a golden tip for you: drink champagne from a glass that looks more like a wine glass than a flute. Champagne comes into its own much better in this type of glass. Moët & Chandon has launched a new champagne glass: the new 870 glass releases 40% more bubbles than a flute.
I have a nose the size of a gamble, I’ll admit it straight away, so just try sticking that into a flute. You’ll get a smack in the face (read: nose) from bubbles shooting into it at the speed of a moon launch. Not pleasant. It could be more subtle, they also think at Moët & Chandon. A new glass was needed. For people with and without a big nose.
For the design of the new, perfect 870 glass, Moët’s cellar master Benoît Gouez, bubble guru Gérard Liger-Belair and Gérard Lehmann, the prestigious glassmaker from the Champagne region, did not rush the process.
From prototype to top glass
The gentlemen began with an extensive tasting of Moët Impérial, Moët & Chandon’s house champagne. A wide range of glasses in different shapes and sizes was tested: in which one did the champagne come into its own best? Together, they designed a prototype, 3D-printed by Lehmann, on which they experimented by adjusting various details, such as the punt depth, bowl width and slope of the glass, in order to achieve the optimal expression of flavors and aromas. Based on these observations, additional prototypes were made, which Gérard Liger-Belair used for his study and calculations, ultimately choosing the perfect shape.
The science of bubbles
Gérard Liger-Belair has written more than one hundred scientific articles on bubbling phenomena found in champagne and other sparkling drinks. And if you’re wondering what the name of the glass refers to, well: the glass’s design is said to release 870,000 bubbles per glass of champagne. Now that is some serious bubble science.
Grand Vintage 2015
The launch of the new 870 glass was celebrated last week in Épernay at Moët & Chandon, at the same time as the new Grand Vintage 2015. We were there (woohoo!). It is not yet known when the glass and the new vintage (in other words, millésime; champagne made from a single harvest year) will be available in the Netherlands. Stay tuned, because as soon as we know, we’ll let you know.
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