Riedel is developing a new glass, created specifically for English Sparkling Wines, following a series of tasting workshops with leading producers in early 2023.
On a quest to discover the perfect Riedel glass that allows English Sparkling Wine to be best enjoyed, the brand’s 11th generation CEO, Maximilian Riedel and the Riedel UK team visited wineries in January to conduct wine glass development workshops with twenty-five of the foremost wine producers from the Hampshire, Kent, and Sussex regions.
Hosted by Exton Park in Hampshire, Squerryes Estate in Kent and Ridgeview Wine Estate in Sussex, a panel of winemakers and expert tasters, led by Maximilian Riedel, tasted from a shortlist of twelve different Riedel glasses, with a large number of different English Sparkling Wines from each region. All wines were tasted blind, and the process eliminated, in stages, those glasses that failed to show the best expression of the wines – and then focused, in fine detail, on those glasses that revealed the best elements of the wines both on the palate and on the nose.
Each workshop was conducted independently, and a unanimous decision was reached across all three panels, with the exact same Riedel glass – the Riesling shape in the recently launched, Riedel Veloce range – being selected as the best, at each session. This glass will now see some adaptations to create the Riedel English Sparking Wine glass, including a nucleation point that will be added to the glass to improve the way in which the glass manages the mousse, and the text ‘English Sparkling Wine’, that will be added to the base before the glass is launched to the market in just a few months’ time.
Speaking after the event, Maximilian Riedel said: “I have long admired English Sparkling Wines, since I made my first vineyard visits here almost ten years ago. In that time, I have seen the industry grow and the wine develop to a truly internationally high standard, so that it is amongst the very best sparkling wines in the world. I am proud to support English Sparkling Wines with a specific Riedel glass, which shows the fruit, the freshness, and the complexity of these great wines at its very best”.
He went on to say: “It is especially pleasing and forward thinking that, in selecting a Riedel Veloce glass, the panel recognised a glass which is brand new, state of the art glassmaking technology, where we are able to produce, by machine, a wine glass which is as fine and as light and as balanced as a hand-made glass and, as such, world leading in its field”.
Simon Thorpe MW, chief executive officer at Wine GB, the organisation which represents the UK wine industry added “We are absolutely delighted that Maximilian Riedel has chosen to create a bespoke English Sparkling Wine glass. The selection process was fascinating and very robust, and the chosen glass is a wonderful outcome. Certainly, the glass showcased the full quality and complexity of the wines, both on the nose and palate. To have an English Sparkling Wine glass of such quality created especially for our wines is a real marker of the development of the industry and its growing reputation both on the domestic and international marketplace”.
