Riedel crystal glasses, whether the hand made batch produced in Austria or machine-made made in Germany have been said by wine guru Robert Parker Jr to be: "The finest glasses for both technical and hedonistic purposes are those made by Riedel. The effect of these glasses on fine wine is profound. I cannot emphasize enough what a difference they make." Having used Riedel glasses for many years myself and my favourite being my now retired Burgundy Sommeliers series, we still managed to learn something new today! Our organizers for the day suggested us to cross-compare the wines in either the generic joker glasses or occasionally swapping a Red Burgundy glass with a White Burgundy Chardonnay crystal. The difference is so profound and such experiments really highlight the difference of finding the right shaped glass for the grape variety ! Even for the 12 Years Scottish Whisky of Glenlivet, the viscosity, aroma, colour and flavours concentration was completely changed drinking from the normal Tumbler Glass vs the Riedel Whisky Dram Glass ! Amazing experiment !
From Top Left: A Riedel Vitis Montrachet series for French Montrachet chardonnay.
Top middle glass is a Riedel Vinum designed just for Sauvignon Blanc.
On the top right, Vinum Extreme series Pinot Noir glass, a little more modernised than the old Sommelier’s glass version that I used before -
We did play around with mixing these into different glasses, including the original Riedel options and also the joker glass. We also poured different white or red wines into different Riedel glasses to compare. Actually the results did spring a big surprise in the end. The wine glass design completely changed their profiles so much!
Traditional Crystal Wine Glasses -
I actually have a lot of these at home myself,
but they are pretty useless. It kills the wine..
Riedel Sommeliers ‘Burgundy’ Series,
aka one of my old glasses -
We drank some New Zealand Pinot Noir in this later to compare. *Just for your information this NZ Pinot wasn’t very upfront new world fruit driven type, but somewhere in between. In this Sommelier’s series glass, for this particular Pinot Noir, it initially opened up a greater number of exotic fruit aromas and especially the foresty flavours. However for this wine, it seemed to drop off more quickly than the Vinum Extreme Pinot Noir glass can provide. Interesting !
A Pinot Noir is poured into the normal Pinot Noir Glass,
and also a very similarly shaped Montrachet Chardonnay glass -
Despite both glasses being Burgundy wines based, also looking so similar, the Pinot Noir definitely collapsed inside the Chardonnay glass. You got to try it to believe how the ‘shaping’ changed everything!! The same theory actually applies to tasting Coffees btw.
12 Year Old Glenlivet, from Highlands -
You know how Japanese Whisky Bars love to serve whiskies in Tumbler glasses with a spherical ice? Well we just cross compared, and I can tell you the Riedel Dram drastically improved the whisky’s character.. It was like Day and Night!! I am going to ban myself from drinking whiskies in tumbler glasses. Even the colour and viscosity changed!!! You can finally taste the sherry and bourbon cask flavour along with the honeyed fruit profile in this young Glenlivet !!
Our Wines and Whisky -
These are not amazing bottles by themselves but they make for a good baseline for comparing the different glasses. And I am totally sold. The specifically designed Riedel Glasses really did make a profound difference. In fact, I think Q88 should think about putting such a Testing Experiment on their menu permanently. Think about it - even as a regular wine drinker, even I didn’t know it could totally transform the experience, and make and break it! It is an eye opening experience indeed.
Price: HKD Around $300, a Riedel & Q88 Tasting Event
Ease of Access: 5/5 (Admiralty MTR Station, walk for few minutes inside Pacific Mall then detour to JW Marriott Hotel)
Experience: ♕♕♕♕♕ 1/2 I would love to see them use some better wines too for a more all rounded experience!
Opening Hours -
Sun to Thurs: 12:00pm - 00:00am
Fri to Sat: 12:00pm - 01:00am
Address: 金鐘金鐘道88號太古廣場香港JW萬豪酒店大堂
Q88 Wine Bar, Lobby level, JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong, 88 Queensway, Admiralty Hong Kong
Ph: 2810 8366
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