Choice Vintners

Stemware ( Riedel Sommeliers )

Burgundy Grand Cru (Pinot Noir)

Price: 129.00/each (CAD)

This glass was described by Decanter magazine as “The finest Burgundy glass of all time, suitable for both young and old Burgundies.”

Specifications = Height: 9 3/4\" Capacity: 37 oz.

Its shape, developed in 1958, represented a quantum leap in terms of wine glass design – and has earned it a place in the permanent display of the New York Museum of Modern Art.

This ‘beautiful monster’ of a glass can take apart a lesser wine, mercilessly showing up its weaknesses. But a great wine – a top-class Burgundy, Barolo or Barbaresco – will be revealed in all its glory. The large bowl allows the bouquet to develop to the full, while the slightly flared top lip maximises the fruit flavours by directing a precise flow onto the front palate. Certain wines and grape varieties require this type of controlled delivery. By ensuring that the fruit is highlighted while using the marked acidity of the wine to keep the flavours in balance, this is a glass that produces a superbly three-dimensional ‘taste picture’.

Recommended for: Barbaresco, Barolo, Beaujolais Grand Cru, Blauburgunder, Burgundy (red), Dornfelder, Echézeaux, Gamay, Moulin à vent, Musigny, Nuits Saint Georges, Nebbiolo, Pommard, Pinot noir, Romanée Saint Vivant, Santenay, Volnay, Vosne-Romanée, Vougeot.

Chablis (Chardonnay)

Price: 89.00/each (CAD)

Some of the finest and most expensive dry white wines are made from this grape variety, a native of the Burgundy region which is now grown in almost all wine-producing regions worldwide.

Specifications = Height: 8 1/2\\\" Capacity: 12 3/8 oz.

In the New World, especially, Chardonnay’s popularity stems from its creamy structure, which balances oaky, buttery flavours with low acidity. The variety produces wines of high alcoholic content, often aged in small oak barrels. Winemakers sometimes add tartaric acid to adjust for its low acidity.

The Chardonnay glass is designed so that this low acidity is delivered in a way that sets off the alcohol and rich flavours of the wine, highlighting its velvety, supple texture, emphasising the fruit and ensuring a long, balanced finish. This classic Riedel shape allows young wines to express all their invigorating freshness, while more mature wines are encouraged to deliver the nutty, spicy, mineral flavours so typical of the variety.

Recommended for: Albariño, Bourgogne Aligoté, Bordeaux (white), Burgundy (white), Chablis, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Corton-Charlemagne, Cortese, Hermitage blanc, Marsanne, Meursault, Montagny, Morillon, Pinot (Blanc, Grigio, Gris), Ruländer, St. Joseph (blanc), Sauvignon blanc (Barrique), Sauvignon-Sémillon (Barrique), Vernatsch, Viognier.

Hermitage (Syrah/Shiraz)

Price: 109.00/each (CAD)

\"My first thoughts about a dedicated glass for Syrah date from a visit I made to the Guigal family in 1992,\" says Georg Riedel. \'Until that time we had always suggested our Burgundy glasses as being best suited for Syrah.

Specifications = Height: 9 3/8\" Capacity: 30 3/4 oz.

But faced with wines of such magnificence I began to think that perhaps we could find a superior alternative.\'

The Syrah variety was first planted in the Northern Rhône region by the Romans. It produces deeply pigmented, well-structured wines with excellent ageing potential. The glass was developed between 1993 and 1995 following tastings in the major Syrah-growing regions, with many influential winemakers kindly contributing their views.

It is shaped to deliver the classic Syrah aromas of toast and black olives. On the palate, it brings out the wine’s silky, velvety structure and balanced flavours. The tannins melt into the fruit, appearing sweet rather than acerbic on the back palate.

Recommended for: Amarone, Barbera, Cornas, Côte Rôtie, Crozes Hermitage, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Grenache, Hermitage, Malbec, Mourvèdre, Petite Sirah, Priorato, Saint Joseph, Shiraz, Syrah.

Mature Bordeaux (Cabernet)

Price: 89.00/each (CAD)

Wines from classified Bordeaux châteaux have tremendous ageing potential.

Specifications = Height: 8 1/2\" Capacity: 12 3/8 oz.

In fact, when stored in perfect conditions Bordeaux can mature for a hundred years or more – and such venerable wines can offer an incomparable tasting experience. Late-ripening, small-berried clusters of Cabernet Sauvignon produce a wine with powerful tannic structure, and it is this that gives the wine its unique longevity. Bottle ageing develops both the colour and the aromas, fusing together and rounding out the tannins to the point that the wine tastes even better than it smells.

This stage marks a plateau from which the wine will slowly start to decline in quality. And it is at precisely this point that this classic Sommeliers shape comes into its own. The glass offers a smaller ‘breathing space’ than that for the Bordeaux Grand Cru, thereby de-emphasising the aromas of age. Reduced tannin levels are revived on the palate, while the fruit is highlighted.

This is a glass that imparts all the concentration and finesse that these great wines deserve.

Recommended for: Bordeaux (mature), Zweigelt.

Montrachet (Chardonnay)

Price: 89.00/each (CAD)

The Montrachet appellation in Burgundy produces the world\'s finest and costliest dry white wines.

Specifications = Height: 7 7/8\" Capacity: 17 5/8 oz.

Their centuries-old reputation is based on Chardonnay grown in the unique microclimate and soil of these vineyards and vinified according to classic techniques. These wines are monumentally complex and dense, with high levels of alcohol and moderate acidity. The wide mouth of this generously shaped glass steers the wine mainly to the sourness-sensitive edges of the tongue, ensuring that the acidity is sufficiently emphasised to create a harmonious balance with the luscious fruit of the late-harvest, healthy grapes and the sweet toasty aromas of the wine’s ageing in oak barrels.

The size of the bowl allows space for the rich bouquet to develop its superbly diverse range of aromas, while minimising the risk of it becoming over concentrated. Of course, outstanding Chardonnays from other regions and countries can also be enjoyed from this glass.

Recommended for: Burgundy (white), Chardonnay, Corton-Charlemagne, Meursault, Montrachet, Pouilly-Fuissé, St. Aubin

Riesling Grand Cru

Price: 89.00/each (CAD)

The Riesling grape variety produces some of the finest white wines, in which high acidity is balanced with residual sugar.

Specifications = Height: 8 7/8\" Capacity: 13 3/8 oz.

Austria saw the dawn of a new era of winemaking in the 1980s. The best crus of Riesling from the sunniest sites were harvested extremely late, yielding grape musts with high sugar levels, concentrated fruit and typical Riesling acidity levels. When fermented to dryness the resulting wine has an alcoholic strength of 13-14%, with 2-4 grams of residual sugar. Fresh acidity and high levels of mineral components can produce an intense wine with wonderful peach aromas.

The wine also ages exceptionally well, with its colour changing slightly to give the typical hue of an aged Riesling. In search of the shape that would best match this new style, Stuart Pigott, a British wine journalist specialising in Riesling, put together a tasting of the finest 1990 vintages from Germany, France and Austria. Riedel sent a selection of glasses for evaluation, suspecting – correctly – that their Chianti Classico (Item No. 400/15) glass might prove ideal. This tasting was subsequently repeated in London, Paris and New York, raising awareness among wine writers of the new Riesling styles. The wines were presented exclusively in this glass, which henceforth also goes under the name of the Sommeliers Riesling Grand Cru.

Recommended for: Alsace Grand Cru, Jurançon Sec, Patrimonio, Riesling (late harvest), Sémillon, Smaragd (late harvest dry), Teroldego, Vouvray.

Sauternnes (Dessert Wine)

Price: 89.00/each (CAD)

This glass was originally developed in 1989 in collaboration with Hardy Rodenstock, described by the Wine Spectator as ‘the world’s most extravagant wine collector’.

Specifications = Height: 7 7/8\" Capacity: 13 3/4 oz.

It was first issued as a glass for dry white wine as part of Riedel’s mouth-blown HR1 collection. Ironically enough, tastings around the world have subsequently shown it to be the ideal glass for Sauternes and sweet wines. The unusual curved design accentuates the apricot aromas typical of wines made from grapes affected by botrytis (‘noble rot’).

The glass is designed to emphasise acidity, thus balancing the wine’s liquorous sweetness and luscious finish. This shape has now been added to our mouth-blown Sommeliers series as the Sauternes and dessert wine glass.

Recommended for: Ausbruch, Auslese, Barsac, Beerenauslese, Eiswein, Jurançon moelleux, Loupiac, Monbazillac, Picolit, Recioto di Soave, Quarts de Chaume, Sauternes, Tokaji, Trockenbeerenauslese, Vins Liquoreux.

Single Malt Whisky

Price: 84.00/each (CAD)

Campbell Distillers, owner of the critically acclaimed single malts Aberlour and Edradour, asked Riedel to come up with a glass that would highlight the very special characteristics of single malt whisky.

Specifications = Height: 4 1/2\" Capacity: 7 oz.

And so, in early 1992, a panel of single malt experts was convened at Riedel’s headquarters in Austria to test a range of different glasses. On the basis of this first selection, Georg Riedel undertook further research with the help of master distillers in Scotland. The result is this glass: an elongated thistle shape on a truncated stem. The design incorporates a small, slightly out-turned lip that directs the spirit onto the tip of the tongue, where sweetness is perceived, and serves to bring out the elegant creaminess of a top-quality single malt.

In September 1992, a group of Britain’s leading single malt experts gathered in London to test the prototype. They agreed that the subtle aromas of the whisky were lost in a traditional tumbler; brandy balloons emphasised the alcohol at the expense of finesse; and the copita tended to magnify the oak components to such an extent that the whisky began to take on cognac-like characteristics.

The Riedel glass emerged as the clear winner, bringing forward the pure malt character of all the whiskies tasted by concentrating their aromas and accentuating their softness, roundness and silkiness.

Recommended for: Single Malt Whisky, Malt Whisky, Whisky/Whiskey

Sommeliers Bordeaux Grand Cru (Cabernet)

Price: 129.00/each (CAD)

1973 in Orvieto, Claus Riedel presented the world’s first gourmet glass series developed with the help of the Associazione Italiana Sommeliers (A.I.S.). The series consisted of 10 sizes. Since then the world of wine has changed radically.

Today, regions and continents are producing wines that didn’t exist or were unknown 25 years ago. The Sommeliers series was developed further by his son Georg, into an all-embracing state-of-the-art wine glass collection. Praised in 1991 by Robert Parker, Jr., publisher of The Wine Advocate, as “The finest glasses for both technical and hedonistic purposes are those made by Riedel.

The effect of these glasses on fine wine is profound. I cannot emphasize enough what a difference they make.” Thanks to worldwide demand, Sommeliers is now the wineglass benchmark and the most successful series of hand-made glasses in the world. Each glass is individually made: the upper parts blown into a mould, the stem and base hand-crafted using methods developed at the time of Christ’s birth.

Our glass-makers invest their talent, know-how and meticulous craftsmanship in making glasses of the impeccable quality our consumers expect. Sommeliers are executed in over 24% lead crystal.

This glass, first created in 1959, is not a design gimmick but a precision instrument, developed to highlight the unique characteristics of the great wines of Bordeaux.

Specifications = Height: 10 5/8\" Capacity: 30 3/8 oz.

The large bowl (capacity 30 oz) brings out the full depth of contemporary wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

Modern vinification techniques enable wine-makers to concentrate the fruit to such an extent that young wines may seem one-dimensional, tannic and over-oaked if served in smaller glasses.

The Sommeliers Bordeaux Grand Cru gives breathing space to both young and more mature wines, unpacking the various layers of bouquet and delivering a full spectrum of aromas. On the palate, the texture of the wine – soft, silky, velvety – is intensified and the finish prolonged, gently blending acidity with supple, sweet tannins. This is a glass that showcases these majestically structured red wines in all their complexity and finesse.

Recommended for:

Bordeaux (red), Brunello di Montalcino, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet-Sauvignon, Domina, Fronsac, Graves rouge, Listrac, Merlot, Médoc, Margaux, Moulis, Pauillac, Pomerol, St. Emilion, St. Estèphe, St. Julien, Sangiovese, Sangiovese-Grosso.

Zinfandel/Chianti

Price: 89.00/each (CAD)

It was an Italian lawyer and owner of a famous Tuscan winery who made Georg Riedel aware that his range featured only glasses dedicated to French grape varieties.

Specifications = Height: 8 7/8\" Capacity: 13 3/8 oz.

Stung into action, Riedel began working with the oenologist Dr. Walter Filliputti to research the characteristics of the Sangiovese grape variety and the optimum shape with which to set off its delicate qualities. Sangiovese is native to the stony soils of the Tuscan hills, where most vineyards are sited at an altitude of 1000-2000 feet. intense sun on steep slopes with poor soils results in medium-bodied wines with good acidity, minerals and tannins.

The shape of this glass brings out the characteristic Chianti bouquet of cherry and bitter almonds. On the palate it helps the wine to gain fruit and suppleness, with the acidity and tannins making for a complex finish. The glass was officially presented at a tasting in Florence on 11 June 1991, where it was warmly acclaimed by leading winemakers of the region.

Recommended for: Ajaccio, Bardolino, Beaujolais Nouveau, Blauer Portugieser, Carignan, Chianti, Côtes du Roussillon, Cótes du Ventoux, Dolcetto, Dornfelder, Freisci, Grignolino, Lambrusco, Montepulciano, Patrimonio, Primitivo, Sangiovese, Trollinger, Vin de Corse, Zinfandel.