Does Georg Riedel Value Form Over Function?
Ben Barna
June 10, 2008
It’s a chicken/egg kind of question—does Georg Riedel love wine, or does he love the glass it’s poured into? The answer is both, but which came first? Riedel is a 10th generation Austrian glassmaker who temporarily left behind his beloved grapes to show the world that spirits have glass too. Riedel, who has an aristocratic air to him and the appearance of a Bond villain (Dr. Pinot?), has designed a trio of spirit glasses—cognac, scotch whiskey, and tequila—to seduce optimal taste and aroma from the glass and into your sense receptors. Listening to Riedel discuss his new creations, and the fluids they cradle, is akin to hearing Shakespeare muse on love. The medicinal smell of a whiskey reminds him of a childhood pharmacy in the Austrian plains. Tequila in the wrong glass has lost its maturity, become cold, and narrow. For Riedel, drinking a spirit from the wrong glass is like watching Lawrence of Arabia on an iPhone. But if it’s the right one, then bliss. So as he would say, pick up your glass, tilt your head back, and initiate flow.
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