Harris had industry friends test out the glasses in service and critic how they handled the wear and tear of an average bar. “The glasses were originally designed for use in hospitality,” explains Riedel. Each of the six glasses (Neat, Rocks, Highball, Nick & Nora, Sour and Fizz) in the collection are designed to meet the characteristics of the cocktail, taking glass size, shape, volume and capacity for ice into account. The two ideated a range of six glasses tailored to the six main types of cocktails poured behind a bar, spanning Rocks to Nick & Nora. “I was approached by New York spirits specialist Zane Harris during one of my glassware tastings he attended,” explains Riedel, “He pitched the idea of a tailored cocktail-specific glass.” Part of the catalyst was a study, unveiling that Americans are drinking less wine than ever thanks to the temptations of hard seltzers, a wider range of beer options and non-alcoholic beverages. Last year, Riedel also took aim at cocktail culture with a cocktail-specific line. “The varietal- and cocktail-specific collections Riedel has launched have been collaborative efforts,” Riedel notes, “Pulling from the prowess of industry experts from winemakers, cellar masters, distillers, sommeliers and mixologists to fine tune our glassware designs. The brand leans on industry experts to help inform and tune each new release. Riedel Drink-Specific glassware line Riedel Later this year, Riedel will roll out a High-Performance line: a hybrid glass with a tall, hand-pulled stem paired with a machine-made bowl in the optically-blown style of Riedel’s Performance Series. Recent additions to the portfolio include the soon-to-launch Riedel Max, an elegant, machine-blow glass with the tallest stem to date. Now, Riedel has dozens of lines, spanning both hand- and machine-blown, upmarket and down, making them the darling of the wine world. He is noted as being the first to create, produce, and market variety-specific glassware shapes. Claus Riedel, the 9th-generation owner of Riedel Crystal, was a glassmaker, chemistry professor and chemical engineer, and one of the first glassware makers to understand that the shape of the glass affects the wine inside it. This continuous search for innovation is core to the brand’s DNA. Riesling’s offering has a long, elegant bowl and a shorter stem. A glass for Pinot Noir/Nebbiolo is robust, with rolling ripples up the glass. The glass designed for Cabernet Sauvignon is angular, with only faint evidence of curves. “The top portion of the bowl acts as the varietal-specific conductor,” Riedel explains, “concentrating the aromas and flavors of a specific grape varietal and delivering an enhanced experience to the nose and palate.”ĭepending on the varietal, the distance and the depth of each ripple match the structures, aromas and flavors of each wine. Through a year of experimenting, testing and tasting, Riedel created seven different flat-bottomed glasses, each fine tuned to highlight the most popular wines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Syrah/Shiraz, Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Champagne). Each glass has Riedel’s flat-bottom design, then moves upwards in ripples rather than one long curve. What started as a single-project Cabernet glass morphed into a full investigation on how this flat glass can be adapted to different varietals.
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