This article was produced in partnership with Virgin Wines.
Long before comedian Lee Peart knew much about wine – something he’s learning more about these days as co-host of Bottoms Up! with Alan Carr, on which our editor has popped up several times – he had already developed his own rudimentary, if not entirely foolproof, system for judging whether a drink was worth his attention.
“I remember thinking, ‘Hmmm… how come I am drinking out of a mere cup, while they get a fancy glass and pour something bubbly into it?’”
The something bubbly was his grandma’s Lambrusco Light, poured at family get-togethers.
“All I knew is that it was my idea of sophistication, and I must have it.”
And when he finally got it?
“Delicious! Fruity, sweet – but mostly I enjoyed the fizz and the sparkle. It made me feel like I had my life in order.”
The Lambrusco clearly delivered, but it was the fancy glass that had first made it irresistible – a little marker of occasion that Lee understandably wanted to be part of.
Why the fancy glass matters
It is a fact that hot chocolate tastes more festive from a Christmas mug. One that has been proven – or, at the very least, heavily supported – by scientists.
Not the Christmas bit specifically, sadly, research funding has its limits, but there is plenty of evidence that what we drink from can change our experience of what’s inside it.
When it comes to wine, researchers have found that changing the shape of a glass can affect how we perceive a wine’s aroma, while other experiments suggest that familiar or “appropriate” glassware can influence how much we enjoy what’s inside it.
Alas, pouring an £8 bottle into your nicest wine glass won’t magically turn it into a £30 one – but it might make drinking it feel a little more like it has.
Then there’s the fact that glasses – and any other drinking vessel – collect meaning of their own.
That battered mug you refuse to throw away isn’t valuable because of the ceramic. It’s valuable because you bought it on holiday, someone gave it to you, or you’ve drunk your morning coffee from it for the past decade. At some point it stopped being a mug and became your mug, and woe betide anyone else in the house who uses it.
Then there are the meanings we’ve collectively agreed on.
You wouldn’t expect a pint of bitter to arrive in a Martini glass, any more than you’d expect a Manhattan in a shot glass. Coupes, flutes and tumblers each tell us something about what to expect before anything has actually been poured – and there’s history behind that.
Glass has had a surprisingly on-again, off-again relationship with luxury. The Romans became remarkably good at mass-producing it, but after they left Britain it became scarce again. By the Middle Ages, glass drinking vessels were largely the preserve of wealthy tables.
Even as production increased, Britain taxed glass for almost a century, from 1746 to 1845. It was really the industrialisation of glassmaking in the 19th century that helped turn something once expensive and labour-intensive into everyday tableware.
Today you don’t need an aristocratic inheritance to own a set of wine glasses, but some of that symbolism remains – there’s a reason setting the table with the good glasses still makes dinner feel like an occasion.
Which rather vindicates Lee staring across the room at everyone else’s fancy glasses and thinking: I want in.
From Lambrusco Light to the hard stuff
Once Lee had acquired a taste for the finer things, there was, apparently, only one way to go.
“When I got older I think I moved onto the hard stuff: Asti. It’s been a slippery slope ever since.”
Although, in reality this was less a slippery slope than a small sideways shuffle: Lambrusco and Asti were both northern Italian, both sparkling and, in the styles Britain loved at the time, decidedly sweet.
Lambrusco Light belonged to a particularly strange chapter in Lambrusco’s history.
As the classic fizzy red style became an international phenomenon in the 1980s, producers looking to capitalise on its success created white, pink and even specially “light” versions, with reduced colour and alcohol.
Britain couldn’t get enough of Lambrusco, and by the late 1980s, Lambrusco Bianco alone was reportedly selling around 110 million litres a year in the UK. That’s roughly two and a half bottles for every person in the country – and that’s before we’ve even counted the red stuff, let alone the rest of the Lambrusco we were drinking.
Asti was having quite the moment too, almost tripling its production between 1969 and 1981 to keep up with demand. And Britain was certainly doing its bit: by 1986, some 38% of the UK wine market was medium-sweet or sweet.
There is, of course, one final question: has Lee gone back to where it all started?
“I haven’t tried it recently. I wonder if it could be the hangover cure I’ve been looking for? I must go out immediately and buy some Lambrusco Light.”
We can’t endorse the hangover-cure theory, but the shopping trip has our full support.
Maybe he’ll still think it delicious, maybe he won’t.
Either way, we suggest using the good glasses.
Lee Peart is a comedian, presenter, broadcaster and actor. To see Lee’s comedy live and find upcoming dates, visit leepeart.net/live.
Three wines for those who like their wine with a little sparkle
Inspired by Lee’s story, we’ve picked three bottles from Virgin Wines to keep the fizz flowing: a sweet Asti for the direct route down memory lane, an Italian rosé for something pink, fruity and unapologetically fun, and a sparkling Shiraz for those who fancy taking their bubbles somewhere altogether darker and richer.
Tenuta Olim Bauda Moscato d’Asti Centive 2025, £12.99
Piedmont, Italy | Moscato
If the words Moscato d’Asti make you expect something overwhelmingly sweet and perfumed, this might surprise you. Orange blossom and honeysuckle lead into stone fruit and a little passion fruit, but the sweetness never becomes cloying. Light, aromatic and gently fizzy, it’s the obvious choice here if Lee’s memories of Asti have prompted a little nostalgia of your own.
Solpiantez Spumante Brut Rosé Millesimato 2024, £11.99
Veneto, Italy | Garganega blend
Nectarine and raspberry come with the sherbet-like sweetness of a pink bonbon, while a scattering of pink flower petals adds a more delicate edge. Fruity, frothy and thoroughly unserious – exactly the sort of bottle to open when the occasion doesn’t call for anything more complicated than having a good time.
The 5OS Project Sparkling Shiraz NV, £19.99
McLaren Vale, Australia | Shiraz
McLaren Vale Shiraz is often associated with richer, darker fruit, but this shows a slightly lighter side of the grape. The region’s proximity to the coast helps moderate the heat in parts of McLaren Vale, and here the fruit leans towards mulberry, damson and raspberry rather than the really dense blackberry and black plum you might expect. Decent acidity keeps it fresh, while a little fine, grippy tannin gives it enough structure to work particularly well with food.
This article is part of our First Times with Virgin Wines series, exploring the bottles, tastes and drinking moments that stay with us – and the stories and culture behind them.