Riedel Stemware Archives

Riedel Glasses

Established in Bohemia in 1756, Riedel (REE-dəl) Crystal is a glassware manufacturer based in Kufstein, Austria. Riedel was an early pioneer and proponent of glassware designed to enhance different varietals of wines. In the early 1990s, wine writer Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate became a major fan and proselytizer. The glasses below are the ones I own and discuss in my podcast on stemware (these are from Riedel’s Vinum line). If you are interested in Riedel but think this is overkill, I suggest you go with the Bordeaux and Chardonnay. Those two glasses should accommodate about 85% of your needs.

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A Note About Vintages

Although you will see vintage dates throughout Winervana, I don’t put too much importance on them. Major producers these days strive for a consistent style, and largely succeed. (Especially in California, aided by the usually even climate there.) For instance, when shopping for a particular wine, if you have a choice between a current release and one that’s a few years old, there will certainly be differences in price and the character of the wine. But upon release, those two examples of the same wine are likely to be quite similar, especially for New World producers, who often enjoy more reliably consistent weather than Old World producers do. (Of course, global climate change may disrupt things for everybody.)

Wine Enthusiast has an interesting post about this here.