English Sparkling Wine Glass

“The glass we choose to taste a wine does change and optimize the taste experience,” says Laurence Civil. “I have been privileged to have enjoyed several glass tasting classes, which taught me how tasting the same wine from different shaped glasses, does change the taste experience. That is why I was interested to learn the selection process as to how the Riedel English Sparkling Wine Glass chosen.”

England is producing sparkling wines to compete with, and win awards the world’s finest. The one element missing to optimise the taste experience was the English Sparkling Glass. For the past 12 years Riedel had been exploring what was the best glass to enjoy the best taste experience of English Sparkling Wine. This meant a series of tastings with different glass style eliminating those that didn’t achieve the right taste to discover which was the right glass.

In 2023 Maximilian Riedel, Riedel CEO invited the leading winemakers from Hampshire, Kent and Sussex to taste from his selection of 12 glasses to see how their wines taste in each of the glasses to discover which created the best taste experience.

The tasting trials ran for three days. Staring at Exton Park in Hampshire; moving to Squerryes Estate in Kent; concluding on the third day at Ridgeview Wine Estate in Sussex.

His selection was 11 Riedel, Stemless Wings Riesling Glass, Veritas Pinot Noir/Nebbiolo/Rose Champagne Glass, Performance Riesling Glass, Vinum Vintage Champagne Glass, Performance Pinot Noir Glass, Winewings Champagne Glass, Veloce Riesling Glass, Performance Champagne Glass, Wine Friendly Red Wine Glass, Veloce Champagne Glass and the Veritas Champagne Wine Glass. To complete the dozen, he added a Champagne flute as the ‘Joker’.

His selection was all of the most popular Champagne glasses and a Champagne flute due to its popular image. At the three tastings each of the panels agreed that the Veloce Riesling glass was shaped to show low-tannin, high-acidity wines, while concentrating delicate aromas for a richer tasting experience, making it a logical option for English Sparkling Wines’ clean, crisp, and refreshing acidity.

The one minor change made to the Riesling glass was the addition of nucleation point at the bottom of the glass to create a steady flow of bubbles for improved mousse presentation.

Maximilian has admired English Sparkling Wine for a longtime. He was proud to support English Sparkling Wines with a specific RIEDEL glass that show the fruit, the freshness and the complexity of these great wines. It was especially pleasing and forward think that it was a RIEDEL Veloce glass which is a brand new, state of the art glassmaking technology. A machine-made wine glass that is as fine, light and balanced as a hand-made glass.