An evening with Georg Riedel, Vinopolis

An evening with Georg Riedel, Vinopolis

by: Tom Jeffreys

Can the finest wine glasses in the world really live up to the hype?

Anyone even vaguely interested wine will know that the glass you drink out of makes a difference. It’s not just a matter of arbitrary etiquette that red wine, white wine, port, champagne and sherry are all served in glasses of different shapes and sizes. Or is it? Perhaps it’s just one of those elaborate ruses that the aspirational middle classes employ to try and feel superior to everyone else – like having millions of different types of cutlery or guffawing when someone passes the port the wrong way. Pah!

In an effort to find out, I’m at Vinopolis for the evening, tasting wines with ageing Euro-smoothie Georg Riedel, owner of the most famous producers of wine glasses in the world – Riedel. The aim of the tasting is to to show the impact that different glasses have upon the enjoyment of different wine, and, obviously, to encourage people to buy Riedel. Honestly, it’s unbelievable.

We kick off by having a sniff of a rather delightful little Mosel Reisling. The wine is then transferred into a plastic beaker – instantly the aroma disappears. There’s nothing. And yet, sniffing the now empty Riedel Reisling glass, the aroma, impressively, has remained intact. Of course, as Georg is quick to point out, it’s pretty unfair comparing a 10p plastic cup to a £30 crystal glass, but this is just the start.

From here we try four different wines – the Reisling, a creamy, nutty Chardonnay, an elegant Pinot Noir and a well-rounded Cabernet Sauvignon. We have each one in the glass designed specifically for it by Riedel, but also in each of the other Riedel glasses. The difference is genuinely astounding.  The Reisling, for example, loses its delight in the Montrachet glass, whilst the Chardonnay is flat and dull in the Reisling glass. Most striking perhaps is the Pinot Noir. In the Montrachet glass it’s thin and acidic, whilst the Reisling glass over-focuses the aroma. In its proper home – note the strange lip to the glass – it’s a seamlessly integrated delight.

This tasting really is an eye-opener. I approached with cynicism, but there’s no question that Riedel are completely right. The slight problem is that, according to Georg, you really need five types of glass. Say you need six of each one, at £25 a pop, that’s £750 on glasses. And then where do you keep them all?

To be honest though, if I had £750 to spend on wine glasses I’d do it in a flash. I haven’t been able to drink wine since without wondering how much better it’d be in a Riedel glass. There’s no going back now. Oh dear.

17th June 2010.

www.riedel.com

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Tom Jeffreys