Riedel Sommeliers Wine Glasses

Merriam-Webster defines the word sommelier as: "a waiter in a restaurant who has charge of wines and their service: a wine steward." Actually, the term encompasses more than just that. A true sommelier is someone with an intimate and extensive knowledge of wine, wine serving, and wine and food pairing. To me, it sounds like a dream job...I can dream, can't I? It's a more specialized job than just a waiter serving wine. In fact, a true sommelier is charged with sourcing and stocking wine, managing the cellar, carefully selecting wines to complement a restaurant's fare and interacting with customers. This person lives and breathes wine and is dedicated to enhancing the wine-drinking experience for an establishment's patrons. Heroes, in my humble opinion! It's no wonder that Riedel, one of the most preeminent manufacturers of crystal wine glasses, named their premier varietal-specific line of wine tasting glasses the "Sommeliers" collection.

Claus Riedel - Crystal Visionary

More than 50 years ago, professor Claus J. Riedel set out on a quest to design crystal wine glasses that were specific to each type of the beverage. He was a pioneer who understood that the size and shape of crystal glasses were of utmost importance when it came to the bouquet, taste, balance and finish of a wine or a spirit. His design work revolutionized the way glasses were produced, because up until that time a wine glass was not unique--the only variable was the size of it. His research and development resulted in a focus on three things: the bowl, stem and base. No frivolous ornamentation or decoration, just simple, elegant wine glasses designed according to the Bauhaus principle of form following function. It was a simple yet groundbreaking endeavor. Sadly, Claus Riedel passed away in 2004, but his contribution to fine crystal stemware lives on and as a result of it, we know and appreciate that the type of glass used for tasting wine is as important as the wine itself. Kudos and thank you, Claus!

The Riedel Sommeliers Collection

Introduced in 1973, the Riedel Sommeliers glass line quickly garnered worldwide attention for excellence. The varietal-specific (meaning wine from a single grape type) glasses are produced taking every characteristic of each wine type into account. There are three variables when creating a wine-specific glass: size, shape and rim diameter. As an example, Bordeaux-specific glasses typically have a large, tall bowl. A perfect illustration of this would be the Riedel Sommeliers Bordeaux Grand Cru wine glass for red wine. It's simple in design--no frills. It is specifically designed for the heavier reds of the Bordeaux region of France. It has an impressive, large bowl that provides the appropriate surface area for full-bodied reds to be swirled, opening up the nose of the wine and evaporating the alcohol taking into account the interaction of the fruits, minerals, acids, tannins and alcohol. The tall height of the bowl allows for the optimal amount of oxygen to fill the glass, enabling the person drinking it to experience a heightened sense of the aroma, or bouquet of the wine. The cut rim allows the wine to direct smoothly onto the center of the tongue, creating the perfect balance of fruit, tannin and acidity. This is just one example of the Sommeliers collection and its varietal-specific wine glasses--they offer a different design for each type of wine...30 in all. All of the Sommeliers wine glasses are executed in lead crystal and mouth blown in Austria.

So, unleash the wine sommelier in your soul and experiment with varietal-specific wine glasses. You will be shocked at how the taste varies from wine glass to wine glass. It truly does make a difference.
Cheers!

Louis Cooper is a 37 year veteran of the retail trade. An avid wine connoisseur, in 2007 he started OnWineTime to offer the wine enthusiast the finest wine glasses, decanters and wine accessories from around the world. Located in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, OnWineTime carries over 300 different wine and beer glasses and over 100 wine and spirit decanters from the top glass producers in the world, including Riedel, Schott Zwiesel, Wateford, Eisch, Spiegelau, Peugeot, Ravenscroft and Nachtmann. The real wine and beer glass superstore.

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What Are the Different Cork Options to Cork a Wine Bottle?

What do you want from a cork?

You can use a cork as an indicator of the quality of the wine inside the bottle, so if you use an attractive looking (and expensive!) natural cork, you will confer an air of quality on the product. On the other hand, if you use a screw top bottle, you will tend to indicate that the wine is cheap and cheerful.

Also consider how important the ageing process is to your wine - is the wine you produce ready to drink, or will it benefit from a few further years in the bottle? Different corks will allow the wine to age in different ways, so if the bottles are going to be aged, then it is almost certainly worth considering spending a little more on the corks.

The mechanical reliability of the cork is something you should consider - a cheap agglomerated cork will be more likely to break in half if it is inexpertly opened, but a higher value cork or indeed a screw top will be more reliable.

What are the cork options?

Going through from the cheapest option to the most expensive, these are your main wine cork options:

Synthetic (or screw-top) corks: these offer a cheap and reliable way to seal a bottle, but as they do not allow any oxygen to enter the bottle, will not encourage ageing. Some argue they cheapen the appearance of the bottle and by implication the wine inside!

Agglomerated corks: these are made from small fragments of corks that are glued together, to provide a uniform stopper. They do not look particularly natural and do not have the open pore structure of natural cork that promotes limited oxygen contact with the wine however and badly made agglomerated corks can be prone to breaking.

Micro-agglomerated corks: use finer cork fragments than normal agglomerated corks and are generally more mechanically reliable and more attractive to look at.

Technical corks: Use a disc of natural cork that comes in contact with the wine and the body of the cork is agglomerated. They offer a blend of the lower cost benefits of agglomerated corks, together with some of the benefits of natural cork in terms of allowing the wine to age.

Colmated corks: these are natural corks that have had imperfections in their surface filled with cork dust that is glued on. Off most of the mechanical characteristics of natural corks, at a lower price, although they may have a slightly synthetic appearance.

Natural corks: come in various quality brands and require careful selection in order to guarantee a good seal. Allow a limited amount of oxygen to enter the bottle to promote ageing, whilst offering excellent mechanical characteristics. Also offer the beauty of natural cork, to make them by far the most visually attractive option.

There is a dramatic difference in pricing between a premium quality natural cork and agglomerated or synthetic stoppers, but they are not meant to do the same job, so they are not really directly comparable. Although the snob value of using a higher value cork can be a consideration in choosing the right kind of cork, the most important thing to consider is what are you intending to happen to the wine once it has been bottled, because the kind of cork you use will be a key determinant of this.

For further help in deciding which is the most appropriate cork for your wine, you should consider speaking to a specialist wine cork supplier such as http://www.corklink.com, who will be able to offer you more advice.

CorkLink - http://www.corklink.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charles_Cutler

Wine Investment

Collecting rare wines has long been a hobby for some. But it can also be a profitable investment for those who know what they are doing. Buying a fine wine, storing it and keeping it in good condition over a period of time, and then selling it at a later date can make you a lot of money if the right wine is chosen.

Of course, you can't just go to the local supermarket, buy a bottle of wine for a fiver, stick in the cupboard for a couple of years, and expect to sell it for a fortune. However, for those who invest wisely there is a nice profit to be made. Choosing rare wines or wines that have something unique and special about them is the key. Recently a two hundred year old white wine became the world's most expensive when it was sold for £75,000. Although anything close to this sort of price tag is rare, that doesn't mean there isn't money to be made.

What makes investing in wine attractive to many is that it serves as a hobby as well as a way of making money. They are interested in the wine they are investing in so enjoy the process. Unlike other types of investment, it isn't just about making money but a hobby which can make money.

There has never been a time when investing in the right wine has been more profitable. As an investment some wines have out-performed gold in what has been a good period for gold investment. Some of the top wines have tripled in value over the last five years. You don't find many investments that increase by 300% in half a decade.

Although there are occasions when the value of wines can increase by this sort of amount, in the majority of cases wine has to be a long-term investment for any significant profits. It usually takes between five and ten years to get a good return, but in most cases more like twenty to thirty years for a very large profit, although it is difficult to predict this far ahead.

Like investments in the financial markets wine investments can go down in value as well as up, and it is therefore wise to spread investments to spread the risk. It is advisable to purchase different types of wines from different regions rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.

The main reason that the top wines can rise in value is that demand exceeds supply, and this always drives up the price. The more people want something, and the less there is available, the more it will cost. Therefore, the rarer the wine, the more you stand to make once you come to sell. It is something that is harder to get hold of so people are willing to pay more to get their hands on it.

Investing in wine is not for everyone, but it is something that can prove very profitable if investing in the right wines. Whereas some wines will not appreciate in price at all, others can do so significantly.
Andrew Marshall (c)

If you are interested in Investment in Wine, Vinalytics is a useful tool for comparing Fine and Rare Wines.

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Organic Vs Conventional Wines - Is Organic Wine Better For You?

Wine is one of the world's popular beverages. The French are known to enjoy it daily, and millions of people around the world wouldn't give up their "glass of red," either.

But as with all food and drink, it is important that we know the health effects wine can have on us. It has long been praised as a healthy drink (when drank in moderation) with various health benefits, even protection from cancer and heart disease. But are some sorts better than others?

Indeed, organic wine can be better for you, and here's why:

1. Organic wines are produced with organic grapes.

Any food that is being organically grown must follow a strict set of rules. In addition all organic food must be certified by independent organizations before they can be labeled "organic."

Conventional wines are grown with grapes that have usually been sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.

When choosing a wine made with organically grown grapes, you avoid all these chemicals which could have a harmful impact on your health, not to mention the environment.

Organic winemaking relies on natural fertilizers such as compost, seaweed and teas for soil and plant health. To keep pests away, ecological processes and biodiversity are often used.

2. Organic wines contain less sulfites than traditional ones

Sulfite allergy can rob many people of their favorite drink. The fact is, sulfites occur naturally in winemaking, but often even more sulfites are added to the wine as a disinfectant and a preservative.
Although wines made with organic grapes aren't necessarily 100% sulfite free, you can be assured they won't have as much sulfites added as their conventional counterparts, making them more suitable for people with sulfite allergies.

3. Organic wine tastes better!

Let's face it: just like that tomato you grew organically in your garden tastes better than any tomato from a conventional garden, wine made from organically grown grapes often tastes better too! It's simple actually: the chemicals or added flavors are not there to disturb the pure taste of the grapes.

Conclusion

Drinking wine in moderation can be beneficial to your well-being and health. Whether you are celebrating a special occasion with that perfect glass of white, or just sitting down and enjoying a glass after a hard days work, it is important to choose the best.

Organic wine provides all of the benefits that a traditionally grown and prepared drink would give, without the possibly harmful pesticide residues or big amounts of added, allergenic sulfites.

It's not always easy to find organic wines in your local supermarket. Please visit my website for even more information and resources! The link is below.

Julie Jais is a wine lover who wants to take good care of her body as well as the planet. That's why she's chosen to promote organic wines.

If you are interested in organic wine, a great source for information is her website www.organic-wine-guide.com, where she presents founded but easy-to-read information on organic, vegan and biodynamic wines.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julie_Jais