Stemware Reviews

I attended Tulsa Chef Fest 2002 in November and attended a Riedel conducted seminar sampling a series of wines from around the world. I was skeptical but after the seminar I am rabid convert preaching the word. The effect of these glasses on wine is simply amazing. In the subsequent couple of weeks my wife and I purchased several of the Vinum series - "Bordeaux", "Chablis" (Chardonnay), "Sauvignon Blanc" and "Syrah". We will be adding more in time. The Syrah glasses are particular effective at concentrating the nose of the Australian and South African wines we have already enjoyed. Your satisfaction is guaranteed and the price, even at full retail, is worth every penny for the years you will enjoy with this superb glassware.

For years I've noticed that excellent restaurants all use Riedel glasses. Finally I gave in and bought some. I wish I bought them sooner. These glasses make wine look and taste the best it can. For the price of a few bottles of mid-priced wine, you can make all your wine taste better.

I've done many, many tests on how wine tastes differently in various glass options and in different situations. Riedel is one of the tests that is easy for even beginning drinkers to see the difference in. The flavor is *amazingly* different when you compare the exact same wine in a Riedel glass vs normal wine glasses.

Even if you buy inexpensive wines, you will get much more enjoyment out of them with this glassware compared to other options. If you are buying mid-range wines, the difference will blow you away. Think of the Riedel glass as allowing you to see what the wine in your bottle *really* was meant to taste like.

Sauvignon Blanc is a great white wine with seafood and fish dishes. If you're grilling these up for summer picnics, give this wine and glassware a try!

Of all the Riedel glasses we have, this is by far the prettiest. While it is made for cognac, we find that this glass is great for sherry. The lip on the glass makes sipping enjoyable. We refrigerate our sherry so we can serve it cold.

The three senses that partake in the enjoyment of cognac or armagnac: sight, taste, and smell are indulged by this glass. The amber of the brandy shines through brillantly in this crystal clear glass -- the narrower (compared to a traditional balloon) profile allows for a given quantity of cognac to reach higher up the side of the glass thus allowing a more "complete" view of the color. The flared edge delivers the cognac to the front and sides of the tongue where the "sweet" regions reside. Finally, the tulip shape ensures that the aroma of cognac is delivered to the nose without any of the alcoholic fumes.

Oh, and the lovely pinging made by the crystal during the toast only enhances the experience.

If you try a nice Cognac or brandy from this glass, I guarantee you'll never use a snifter again. The tulip shape of this glass slows down the rapid evaporation of alcohol that most tasters associate with a "burning" in their nostrils. This glass highlights the wonderful orange peel, spice, vanilla, caramel, etc. of your Cognac. Try your favorite Cognac in this glass right next to the same Cognac in a snifter and you'll be convinced!

I now refuse to have an after-dinner Cognac in restaurants now because I can not stand to drink a fine Cognac from poor glassware. Thanks to Riedel, the bulbous brandy snifter is a concept whose time has passed.

My fiancee and I received these flutes as an engagement gift from my mother (who is also my maid of honor). They are gorgeous, and their quality is marked by their name. We can't wait to use them on our wedding day. They are a perfect wedding or anniversary gift!

My fiance and I received these flutes as an engagement gift, and we love them! They are beautiful and will always have special meaning for us as we are planning on using these on our wedding day. My fiance's cousin just got engaged and I plan on giving these as their engagement gift.

These are gorgeous! I love to give these flutes as gifts, especially for weddings. The toast is cut right into the glass, love, health, happiness, prosperity and peace. What more could you wish for a couple?

Just ordered these from Amazon. They came in the mail today and they are beautiful.

I am very satisfied with this product. I also ordered the cordial set and I am happy with them as well. They are nice for the price and well represented in the description and picture.

I have these glasses in every color and several of them in multiples. I have used them as candle holders. Use the sampler size candles about 2 1/2 by 1 inch; And the light given off from these glasses will color the room. The thickness of the glass adds an extra level of saftey, in regards to both heat as well as tipping.

These glasses are amazing. They're nicely weighted and look great. If you want a little splurge, treat yourself to these. They are the nicest things I have in my kitchen.

These glasses will 'wow' you right out of the box. I came back and ordered more. These glasses are the type you want to grab first if you ever have company over as their stature is gorgeous and the weight is nice in your hand. As to the question about the warranty, look for a little index card in the box. Basically, if you ever break one, Lenox will send you a new one for 1/2 of retail plus shipping.

I am wine snob/geek and know the difference that quality wine-specific stemware can make in the enjoyment of fine wine. These glasses match up with the best Riedels but you can buy. But here's the big difference: You can buy 8 Lennox classes for less than the cost of 2 comparable Reidels. It should be noted that just like Riedel, these glasses are made in Austria. We love drinking wine in these glasses, our friends love drinking wine in these glasses and you will love drinking wine in these glasses too.

One caution: I sure would like to know more about the "lifetime warranty" mentioned in the Amazon.com description, as nothing came with the glasses on this. However, this is not the first time that I have been milead by Amazon.com on warranty issues.

These glasses are incredible. Anyone who enjoys even an occasional glass of port must have a set of these. They are well designed so you not only get the full aroma of the port, but the glasses also look and feel great in your hand. I didn't think a glass could so drastically improve my enjoyment of port, but these certainly do.

I bought a set of these and whenever I use them either with one person or entertain a few guests, they generate conversation. They're really light to the touch and I don't just use them for port. They suit white wine well also. The finger notch is a really neat visual element that also helps remind you to hold it by the stem so you don't warm up the wine or port. These glasses really have added a much needed touch of sophistication to my wine drinking and I'd really recommend them!

A nice first step toward seriously enjoying wine. The technical part of the Riedel design has merit, I'm sure, but like the right new suit, a classy wine glass adds another dimension to fine living.

We were first introduced to Riedel by a cousin of mine. He and his wife were here for his mother's funeral. Ann wife and I had done considerable leg work for the funeral since my cousins live in New Mexico and a long way from Central Texas. They took us out to eat one night and we were discussing wines when he made the statement that wines were fantastically enhanced when using Riedel crystal wine glasses. This led to a lengthy discussion, the upshot of which was that Ann and I had never used anything from Riedel. About two weeks later we received a package from my cousin and his wife that contained 4 Riedel Magnum glasses. We put them "in service" that evening. Drinking red wine from these wonderful glasses is a very rewarding experience-----as my cousin said, there is nothing like Riedel! Since that day, we have purchased more Magnums as well as some Riedel White Wine glasses.

Wine drinkers owe it to themselves to try Riedel. You don't have to be a connoisseur to immediately notice the difference between Riedel and other wine glasses.

Great size glass to use for water or soda which adds
beauty to a table instead of a heavy glass.

After we bought a pair of these to replace some older Champagne flutes, one use sent us running back to the store to stock up - it's now the only stem we use. The shape is classic, elegant and has a nice weight - balancing delicacy with just enough sturdiness to feel reassuring. We've found that with some other stemware we've owned, our guests feel a little hesitant to handle the slender stem. I know from experience that hand-washing makes me pretty nervous after snapping the stem off some fine but too-delicate pieces. These, on the other hand, have just the right heft without sacrificing any of their "crystal" character.

The best part of all is that every glass creates a little ring of bubbles at the surface right in the middle of the glass (when it sits still for a moment). Apparently they've designed the glass to do just that. We also find that with richer, more aromatic Champagnes these glasses do a very good job of showcasing the nose of the wine.

These glasses strike just the right taste/aesthetics/quality/price balance. They are perfect to use to enjoy fine champagne at parties and not so fragile that I worry about the glasses being too easily broken or too costly to replace if something did happen to any of them.

I'm a Riedel fan because I used to work for wines business so I had chance to test different glasses for free, and Riedel offer the best quality along with the price factor. I have Sommelier Bordeaux glasses (real great for collection wines but it's a pain to hand wash it by myself with great care next morning) but Vinum series are the best for daily use. I don't mind that litte logo at all so it's not a problem to me (as long as it's my favour brand names). But caution: Riedel suffering quality control problem and it's happened few years ago, I know it because I used to check the shipment piece by piece when it arrived at my shops. My first shipment was no exception, it's came with 3 defected glasses, 1 with critical defect (Borken edge) and 2 with major defects (Bubbles mark at the bodies) Hey, it's 50% and unacceptable from such a famous manufacturer! The logistics from Amazon save the problem, the second shipment arrived 2 days later (Amazing!) and all glasses are free from defects (Hurray!). You got to be serious in drinking to appreciate what Reidel's quality make your fine champagne shine. Don't buy this if you expect these glasses will make your cheap sparkling wines taste better (although it helps a little), it will definitely disappoint you. Remember these glasses are suppose to pair with fine champagne!

There aren't any wine glasses out there that I prefer over the Riedel Vinum series (except the Sommelier of course). I do have one observation though, and this is why I didn't give this glass a 5 star rating: the Vinums that I've purchased in the past 5 months don't seem to be up to the same quality standards of the Vinums I purchased a year ago. The "older" Vinum, which has the logo etched in the base, has a better/cleaner cut rim and the bowl seems to be thinner - making the entire glass look, feel and sound more elegant. The "new" Vinum, which has the logo and "riedel" name etched in the base, has a lip which looks slightly rounded in a side-by-side comparison with the "older" glass and the bowl/glass itself seems thicker. Maybe Riedel made some changes to improve durability, but I like my old Riedels better. All in all, as I said at the beginning of this review, there is nothing better out there than the Riedel Vinum series (as long as you don't pay full retail)....

We currently live in France, a country where wine is etched into the national consciousness. We invited some French friends over to compare Australian and French wines of the same grape varieties (chardonnay, cabernet, merlot), but didn't have enough Riedel glasses to go around. Some of us were consistently rating wines lower - and then we realised that they had the non-Riedel glasses. A quick tour of the table with the same wine in the two types of glass convinced everybody of the merits of this glassware. A TIP ON WASHING: one pain is the need to hand-wash these glasses. A sommelier gave us the tip that to avoid breaking Riedels while washing, do not hold the stem to turn the glass while cleaning it. Hold the whole bowl with one hand, while using a wash cloth with the other.

I attended Tulsa Chef Fest 2002 in November and attended a Riedel conducted seminar sampling a series of wines from around the world. I was skeptical but after the seminar I am rabid convert preaching the word. The effect of these glasses on wine is simply amazing. In the subsequent couple of weeks my wife and I purchased several of the Vinum series - "Bordeaux", "Chablis" (Chardonnay), "Sauvignon Blanc" and "Syrah". We will be adding more in time. The Syrah glasses are particular effective at concentrating the nose of the Australian and South African wines we have already enjoyed. Your satisfaction is guaranteed and the price, even at full retail, is worth every penny for the years you will enjoy with this superb glassware.