Written by Madeline Puckette

How to swirl wine like a pro.

Finally a nervous twitch that’s socially acceptable! The act of swirling improves the flavor of wine in two ways. For one, it decants the wine and secondly, it coats the glass with aromas. There are two types of wine swirls that you should learn how to do. The two styles are:

  • Standing Social Swirl (aka The Handheld)
  • Table Top Swirl
Sparkling Wines Don’t swirl sparkling wine unless you want to remove the bubbles.

How to Swirl Wine

Tricks on swirling wine.

science behind wine swirling
The science of a wine swirl.

It’s a Science

We were surprised to find a study from the Cornell University library on the science of wine swirling. Turns out, wine and physics are friends in the realm of fluid dynamics. A group of 6 physicists submitted a science paper on the perfect speed to swirl wine. They were searching for the optimal oxygen surface area ratio.

Wine Science Paper Source

“Oenodynamic”: Hydrodynamic of wine swirling (video)

madeline-puckette-swirls-wine
The table top wine swirl in action.

Written byMadeline Puckette

James Beard Award-winning author and Wine Communicator of the Year. I co-founded Wine Folly to help people learn about wine. @WineFolly