Max Riedel is an impassioned presenter committed to developing his glassware collection to optimise the taste experience. I was recently had the opportunity to meet him at his Veloce glass tasting at Westminster College. He talked us through tasting the most wines in his Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir/Nebbiolo and Cabernet/Merlot glasses and comparing wines that were best appreciated not in the glass we were to define wine does taste its best when sipped from his selected grape varietal glass.
The name Veloce is coming from Italian and means swift or rapid. The glasses are taller, have thinner stems and finer bowls.
The Sauvignon Blanc in designed so that wine flows to the tip of the taster’s tongue. The glass is perfect for all styles of this variety, from the grassy, fruit-forward wines of the Marlborough to the oak-aged, honeyed blends from Bordeaux.
When tasting the Sauvignon Blanc Maximillian had selected, I could appreciate the freshness and intensity on the nose, a harmonious palate, with an excellent balance of fruit and acidity, and a minerally finish.
The Chardonnay glass is perfect to reveal the intensity of full-bodied white wines, including the wine’s multi-layered aromas. With a larger volume, the wide open-mouthed bowl enables the rich bouquet to develop its wonderfully diverse range of aromas, emphasizing the finesse while minimizing the risk of richer style white wines becoming over-concentrated.
The main thing I learned is that where the wine first hits the tongue/palate really changes and amplifies which aromatic or textural components you then perceive in the wine. The design of the glasses shapes the flow of the wine and thus where it hits the tongue when tasting.
The Pinot Noir/ Nebbiolo glass is perfect for light-bodied red wines made from thin skinned fruit with high acidity and moderate tannin. This glass has a diamond shape that works beautifully for big and bold New World wines, as the extreme angles offer more space to develop aromas. This glass captures nuances in the wine’s profile, highlights the rich fruit-forward characters, and tempers the high acidity of the wine.
The unexpected added element to the tasting was to discover that Pinot Noir is the perfect pairing with Lindt’s Excellence Extra Silky White Chocolate. A subtle introduction by Maximilian that Riedel and Lindt have created the ultimate wine glass tasting and premium chocolate pairing experience for consumers. It shows that the best wine and chocolate, enhanced by enjoying the wine from the proper varietal specific glass, offers a heightened sensory experience. The tastings are a perfect complement to the Lindt red wine chocolate tasting process, an ultimate sensory experience to master the art of tasting fine chocolate. The Ridel magic is optimising the tasting experience to enjoy it to its best.
The Cabernet Sauvignon glass is perfect for full-bodied, complex red wines that are high in tannin. The diamond shape of the glasses manages the taste experience. The extreme angles bring the space to develop aromas and emphasis the taste of the fruit while smoothing out the rough edges and bitter qualities of the tannins, which achieve the sort after balance.
The perfect glass has the right shape for the varietal being poured that the wine flows from the glass into the mouth to optimise the taste experience.
A discovery journey with Laurence Civil of his best tasting experiences 
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