Love for clear and fragile glassy surface has been dissolved for many centuries in the blood of the Riedel family. Engineers and artists, industrialists and scientists, they turned to this wonderful material over and over again opening up its newer possibilities.

In Vino Veritas: True or False?

Sometimes while drinking good wine it seems that something is missing - either the taste is wrong or the scent is not rich enough. And you start thinking: is the saying in vino veritas true? The legend says that this is exactly what happened once in the Riedel family, when the guests' opinions on the served wine split up explicitly. And Claus Riedel, the representative of the 9th generation of the dynasty of glassblowers, suddenly realized: it's not the wine only, it's also the cup that contains this wine. Like clothes, a glass either helps the essence of the content come out or bluntly simplifies or even destroys individual properties of the drink.

Following this revelation the revolutionary Riedel concept appeared: different  kinds  of wine are good with glasses of different shapes and sizes. And this is not only the matter of aesthetics (though Riedel products are notable for their inimitable nobleness and elegance). Intricate combinations of ingredients in each particular case may either take the right note or remain unheard. As soon as wine is poured into the glass, it starts evaporating immediately filling the glass with its sour flavor. However odors of different components do not mix up but arrange layers - the lightest ones, fruity and flowery, go up to the glass rim, green plant and ground mineral tinges remain in the center, while the heaviest ones, wood and alcohol, sink to the bottom. According to what aromatic and taste dominants define this or that bouquet, the glass shape is selected.

Nectar Divine

The Sommeliers series glasses from the unique handmade collection were designed by Claus Riedel in 1973 and were widely recognized around the world. As all the items of this brand, they were designed to pass all the taste without losing even its most delicate hues on the way. Sometimes a minor variation of glass shape enables wine to get onto exactly those sensing areas of the tongue which can be most sensitive to the corresponding beverage components. For example, a simple and graceful shape of Bordeaux Grand Cru glass accentuates all the charm of Bordeaux wines letting the scent freely leave ample surface of the glass and guides the wine to the center of the tongue creating harmony of tannin fruitiness and sourness. A glass for Burgundy wine (they are characterized by high sourness) has a more intricate shape. Its upper part slightly broadening towards the rim intensifies fruity hues at most, guiding wine to the tip of the tongue and thus compensating for sourness; and the shape of Montrache glass was intended specially for white dry Burgundy wines made from Chardonnay grape. Rounded rim in this case impedes smooth flow of wine and emphasizes sourness guiding wine to the tongue sides sensitive to sour flavors and creating thus harmonious balance between fruity taste of ripe grapes and sweet grain odor of wine matured in oak casks.

A cognac glass with heavy lower part and the 'pipe' elongated upwards softens alcohol notes and releases subtle caramel and grape odors of a seasoned brandy.

In October 1989 George Riedel got acquainted with Robert Mondavi, the first-rate American wine-maker and told him about the innovative approach towards wine glasses developed in his family. Mondavi listened to him politely and then suddenly flared up: "I've never heard such nonsense before, young man!" However a few months later an unusual wine-tasting took place after all. According to those present there, Mondavi and his sons were amazed. Mondavi's reaction was immediate. He called his assistant and ordered to throw away all the wine glasses used at the plant and replace them with Riedel glasses.

The Riedel Saga

Starting from the 17th century Riedel vases and glasses, chandeliers and perfume bottles adorned the interiors of aristocratic estates in different parts of Europe. The story of the dynasty begins in Bohemia with a legendary merchant Johann Christoph Riedel, who opened new markets for Bohemian glass not only in Europe, but in America as well. And in the 19th century Josef Riedel Senior easily stepped into the new industrial age and was named the glass king of Bohemia having created the whole industrial empire for his family business. His son Josef Riedel Junior using new methods of spraying good-melting metals for glass production laid the foundation for the production of jewelry with artificial stones and brilliants. Then in 1925 Walter Riedel, the first inventor of glass fiber and the first producer of lenses and prisms, became the President of the company. It was he who made television tubes, which were used for monitoring Germany's airspace. Its inventor potential was estimated at his true worth and in 1945 he was kidnapped and brought into the Soviet Union, where he headed a laboratory in Siberia for many years.

Finally, in the 1950s Walter's son -Claus Josef Riedel - started the revival of family business, though in Austria this time. It was he, the "professor of glass" as his colleagues called him, who made collections of thinnest crystal that attracted the attention of Winston Churchill and the Duchess of Windsor, won multiple prizes and became part of museum expositions. It was his idea to relate the taste of wine to the shape of glass, a concept now an axiom in the art of wine-making.

Wine flavor symphony may appear elegant and delightful if you drink wine in the right manner. To understand what the right manner is it is first necessary to learn some peculiarities of tongue anatomy. Sensitive receptors of the tongue form small areas sensitive to different taste characteristics of both food and drinks. Sweet tints are sensed by the tip of the tongue, while bitter notes are sensed only in the deep of mouth, at the very tongue root; salty is sensed equally everywhere, and the middle of both tongue sides senses acid hues.