Grape varietal-specific wine glasses in a 21st century interpretation
Riedel, the 300 year-old family business credited with revolutionizing glassware for the enjoyment of wine, announces its new grape varietal specific collection, the Veritas Series.
Georg Riedel, owner of Riedel Crystal, challenged his Weiden factory Chief Engineer Franz Schmid, and his world class technicians, to execute, in lead crystal, the finest and lightest machine blown glasses ever made. The Weiden factory, located in Bavaria Germany and one of Riedel’s four manufacturing facilities, was tasked with developing the a glassware series to be not only visually stunning and a delight to hold, but price competitive against hand made products from emerging markets.
The spectacular result is Veritas: a collection 15% taller than Vinum (Riedel’s first, and benchmark machine-made line introduced 1986) but 25% lighter and finer, while maintaining dishwasher safety, resistance against breakage, and suitability for long term daily home use as well as for stressful hospitality industry service. Riedel’s technicians accomplished their task with excellence, creating a wine glass collection for the 21st century, machine-blown in lead crystal of unsurpassed thinness and lightness, and manufactured utilizing the very latest manufacturing techniques developed by the Weiden factory team.
“Veritas combines the charm of a handmade glass with the consistent accuracy only a machine made glass can achieve,” says Georg Riedel, 10th –generation glassmaker.
The shape and size of the Veritas bowls are tailored to highlight the DNA of individual grape varietals, each distinguished by the grape’s skin thickness and color, the amount of tannins, sugar content and intensity of acidity and minerality.
Benefiting from Riedel’s 60 years of wine experience and expertise, the light, balanced and elegant glasses of the new Veritas collection are first and foremost ”tools” designed to enhance the enjoyment of fine wines. The series includes glasses for Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Riesling and Viognier. For the first time in a single collection, Riedel offers two glasses each for Syrah and for Pinot Noir, designed to enhance both Old World and New World styles of each grape.
In another first for Riedel, the Veritas Collection will include the “Champagne Wine Glass,” a glass that boldly departs from the style of the conventional Champagne flute. “The name Champagne Wine Glass was chosen carefully and deliberately,” says President, CEO, & 11th generation glassmaker Maximilian J. Riedel. “Champagne is a wine and deserves to be treated as such. Whether enjoying a Blanc de Blancs or a Cuvée, the Champagne Wine Glass allows the wide range of aromas of Champagne to unfold. The larger rim diameter enables the aromas of the Champagne to be released, in a way which is not possible with a narrow flute. The glass also includes a point mousse, or ”sparkling point” – a tiny groove in the base of the bowl – to aid the formation of the Champagne bubbles, effervescence being an important part of the Champagne experience.”
Beginning July 2014, the Veritas series will be sold via www.riedel.com and Riedel’s extensive retail network for $69.00 for a box of two glasses.
For more information on the Veritas Series and for a complete selection of all Riedel glassware and decanters, visit www.riedel.com.
