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GEORG RIEDEL
Austrian crystal glassmaker
It's easy enough to recognize a classic Riedel wineglass: pure and elegant lines, soap-bubble delicacy, flawless clarity, perfect balance in the hand. What's not so easy, for the uninitiated, is to identify the dozens of shapes and sizes that have made Riedel glasses the uncontested favorite of winemakers and wine lovers around the world. Riedel's Sommelier collection, for instance, includes 33 different lead-crystal glasses, each one designed for a specific type of wine or grape variety.
The Riedel family glassmaking tradition dates back 10 generations, to 17th century Bohemia. The present-day design concept is basic Bauhaus: form follows function, in this case a form that brings out the best in its contents and can even help disguise a fault or two. The volume and shape of the bowl, the thickness of the crystal and the rim's outward flare or inward curve and finish all help determine which of a wine's several layers of aromas develops first or most fully. It was Claus Riedel, designer and ninth-generation owner of the family firm, who first noted that the size and shape of a glass affect the perception of aroma and flavor. In 1973 he designed the basic Sommelier series that set the wine world in a whirl. Claus' son Georg took over the company in 1994 and put scientific and marketing punch behind his father's pioneering concepts.
Riedel's flagship crystal is still produced in the time-honored way, with glowing lumps of molten glass mouth-blown into cast-iron molds and fitted with hand-fashioned stems and bases by master craftsmen working in two factories at Kufstein, in the Austrian Tyrol near the German border, and at Schneegattern, north of Salzburg. Riedel glasses are near-perfect examples of ongoing innovation in traditional craftsmanship.
—JUDY FAYARD