Good wine must be drunk using proper glasses and when it comes to wineglasses very few come close to Riedel (pronounced as ree-del ). The 325-year old family owned Austrian company that had its glass making roots in Bohemia revolutionized the wineglass industry 35 years ago. It changed the stemware from traditional coloured and cut glass to plain, thin blown, long stemmed unadorned glasses.

This was the first company in the history that did research on the shape and size of the glass and the effect it had on the alcohol and smell perception in wine. Different grape varietals have different aromas. It conducted studies that showed that different shapes are best suited for different wines. For example the Burgundy glass is wider and narrower than a Bordeaux glass, and both are bigger in size than a white wine glass. Each glass is designed to help entrap the maximum aromas generated by the swirling of glass, giving maximum pleasure of wine drinking.

It has been well recognized that the glass should be light so you can feel the weight of wine only, clear and rimless to evaluate and enjoy the colour of wine and it should be long stemmed to enable proper swirling. Size of the glass has been kept so that only a third to one fourth needs to be filled to help wine breathe properly. Their Sommelier Series glasses cost princely $50 each whereas the Vinum series are more suitable to earthlings at $15. Both are made from lead crystal and can last your grandchildren, if handle with care. They have earned such a reputation that I have not seen any wine producer use a non-Riedel glass for tasting in any show.

So what is the riddle? Well, firstly they came out with Restaurant series of glasses in plain glass and a wider and balanced base a couple of years ago, that cost $5 a piece, quite affordable by an average wine lover in India. But here is the catch. They are sold only to restaurants and not consumers, anywhere in the world. There are not many consumers who would spend over Rs. 1000 per glass but there is a huge market for proper glasses in the 300-500 range, what with the awakening of Indian consumers. Spiegelau, a German company makes a series of glasses that fall into this range; their Vino Grande series is widely acclaimed as second only to Riedel. Waterford and another German company, Schott Zwiesel are also popular glasses in this range.

The more perplexing riddle is the recent introduction of a new series called O series . These are plain glasses with similar shape as the Vinum series but without the stem and base and cost about $5 each. The reasoning advanced by the producers is that the stem makes the glasses very fragile and these new glasses will be dishwasher safe. To my mind this is the anti-thesis to what the wine world has been singing about. If the shape of the glass helps the olfactory senses, the stem is basic to swirling, which is equally important to bring the ethers out in the open.

The argument does not make any sense. Perhaps, it creates a new market for Riedel but does it mean an end to the stemware era? Only time will tell. I certainly hope not. Meanwhile, hold on to your Riedel, Spiegelau, Waterford (Plain) or Schott Zwiesel wineglass collection and pass on those cut glass Bohemians with heavy bases and wide rims to your less favoured cousins.

Subhash Arora