Crash of the titan… or the bane of compromise

When it comes to wineglasses Riedel is the undisputed market leader. Having a glass for each variety helps keep them there. Unfortunately, if you are setting up house or a small restaurant and simply can’t afford the cost or space for that many different glasses then it gets difficult. Which glasses do you buy? Which ones are “all rounders” and will work with a variety of wines?

We decided to put this to the test and compared the Riedel Vinum and Sommelier ranges to the Christofle Vinea range and the Waterford range.

All the glasses in the line-up looked superb. Beautiful shapes, professionally finished, some hand-made, some machine made. Using different Australian reds and one white we conducted a blind “glass” tasting. We decided to limit the amount of different glasses to just four, one white and three reds. The outcome surprised us all.

And the winners are:

Bordeaux glass: Christofle Bordeaux

Burgundy glass: Christofle Bourgogne

Shiraz glass: Riedel Sommelier

White: Riedel Chardonnay

Conclusion: although Riedel is the undisputed king if you can select the matching glass for the variety of wine you are serving, as a multi-purpose compromise they have stiff competition from Christofle. Vive la France!