On a quest to discover the perfect glass that allows English sparkling wine to be best enjoyed, Riedel’s 11th generation CEO, Maximilian Riedel and the company’s UK team visited wineries in early 2023 to conduct wine glass development workshops with 25 of the foremost wine producers from Hampshire, Kent and Sussex.

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 Mr Riedel, tasted from a shortlist of twelve different Riedel glasses, with the 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 on those glasses that revealed their best elements both on the palate and on the nose.

Each workshop was conducted independently and a unanimous decision was reached across all three panels; 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 improve the way in which the glass manages the mousse, and the text ‘English Sparkling Wine’ added to the base.

Mr Riedel said “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.”

www.riedel.com