SOMMELIERS (1973): Professor CLAUS J. RIEDEL was the first designer to recognize that the bouquet, taste, balance and finish of wines are affected by the shape of the glass from which they are consumed. More than 50 years ago he began his pioneering work to create stemware that would match and complement different wines and spirits. In the late 1950s, RIEDEL started to produce glasses, which at that time were a design revolution. Thin-blown, unadorned, reducing the design to its essence: bowl, stem, base. Working with experienced tasters, RIEDEL discovered that wine enjoyed from his glasses showed more depth and better balance than when served in other glasses. CLAUS J. RIEDEL laid the groundwork for stemware which was functional as well as beautiful, and made according to the Bauhaus design principle: form follows function. In 1961 a revolutionary concept was introduced, when the Riedel catalogue featured the first line of wine glasses created in different sizes and shapes. Before this, conventional stemware had used a single basic bowl shape, with only the size varying depending on use. The concept was illustrated to perfection with the introduction of the Sommeliers series in 1973, which achieved worldwide recognition. A glass was born that turns a sip into a celebration -a wine's best friend - fine-tuned to match the grape! We invite you to share this fascinating and unique experience. You don't need to be a wine writer, a wine maker or an expert to taste the difference that a RIEDEL glass can make. SOMMELIERS is executed in crystal.

Glass series: SOMMELIERS SINGLE MALT WHISKY
Item number: 4400/80
Height: 115 mm, 4-1/2"
Capacity: 200 ccm, 7 oz
Widest diameter: mm, 2-5/8"
Price Category: $$$
Fine Crystal
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. 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.