When you want the wine’s aromas to take centre stage.
Whenever I am choosing wine glasses for my collection there are a few visual and
quality boxes I expect them to tick:
The design must be appealing to me and elegant
The glasses should be light while having a quality feel to them
Ideally, they are hand-made (or in this case mouth-blown), because I believe in supporting traditional artisan producers
Once the glasses have passed this first hurdle, I am of course focussing on the
second and most important question: how they present and support the wines I
am pouring and drinking from them.
The VISION collection by the Bavarian manufacturer ZIEHER passes my first set of
criteria with flying colours. The design is very elegant and contemporary – a true
eyecatcher with any table setting. Every glass is unique, and they even forego
the use of lead in the production of their mouth-blown crystal glass.
But the most interesting aspect is their approach to pairing their glasses to
different types of wine. To quote from their website: “No distinction is made
between red wine or white wine glasses in this collection, the glasses are simply
theme-based or character- based. The names of the glasses FRESH, STRAIGHT,
INTENSE, BALANCED, RICH, NOSTALGIC and SIDE clearly explain what they are
used for”.
At first, this might seem intimidating since most glass manufacturers provide you
with suggestions on pairing certain grape varieties with certain glass. Not so with
ZIEHER, where you are left to decide on your own which elements and aromas of
your wine you would like to elevate and enjoy.
I must admit that it took me a few tastings to pair some of my favourite wines
with the ‘right’ ZIEHER glass for me. The exciting part of this process was that I
got to try familiar wines in a very different way. I for example discovered that an
oaked Chardonnay I had traditionally been drinking from a larger volume and
wide open-mouthed bowl benefitted from the more narrow-mouthed bowl of the
INTENSE glass without over-concentrating its aromas.
Whether you are looking for a design show stopper or you would like to re-
discover some of your favourite wines, the VISION collection by ZIEHER should
definitely be on your to buy list.
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