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Riedel Magnum glass on left, compared with hitherto standard judging glass, XL5.
Royal Easter Show Wine Awards to pioneer Riedel glasses for judging
In a major advance in judging standards, Riedel glasses will be used for the first time in a New Zealand wine
competition at the Royal Easter Wine Show, 2006. While wine competitions are not a usual target market for Riedel,
leading wine judge, and Chairman of Judges at the Royal Easter Wine Show, Bob Campbell MW recommended Riedel Restaurant
as the glassware to be used at this year’s show.
Bob recently judged at the Australian National Wine Competition and returned with glowing reports of the preference of
the judges, including chairman James Haliday, for the Riedel glasses. Bob was ‘amazed’ how much better the glasses were
for judging purposes than the ISO, and believes the “Riedel glasses allow the wines true and full character to show
through, and thus make judging more effective and efficient”.
Canberra chairman, James Halliday was equally convinced: “I was profoundly impressed with the new Riedel tasting glasses
when I first used them at the 2005 Australia National Wine Show in Canberra. The difference between them and the
traditional XL5 glasses is akin to the difference between a Ferrari and a Ford Prefect. The Riedel glasses dramatically
magnified the characteristics of a range of wines from sparkling to fortified, with all shades between. In short, they
do exactly what wine tasting glasses are supposed to do. In my view they will improve judging consistency at future wine
shows.”
The Riedel “Magnum” glass has a capacity of 530 ml, over twice that of the 250 ml of the previous standard XL5 at 250
ml.
It is now common knowledge that a glass can alter and change the perception of a wine’s flavour. The Riedel company has
worked with the leading winemakers and sommeliers of the world to develop and design glasses that are tailor made for
drinking pleasure, and to add to the wine experience.
In 1973, Claus Riedel introduced the Sommelier Collection, and thanks to worldwide demand, Sommeliers is now the wine
glass benchmark and the most successful series of hand-made glasses in the world. In 1986, Georg Riedel introduced
Vinum, the first machine-made series of glasses in history to be based exclusively on the characteristics of quality,
reasonable price and wide distribution. Vinum has had a permanent impact on the global wine glass culture. These glasses
have proved to consumers and restaurateurs that the pleasure of consuming wine starts with the glass.
ENDS