At the invitation of Living Interiors of Gzira, Yair Haidu, European regional manager and in-house wine expert of Riedel Fine Austrian Crystal, and an internationally renowned wine journalist, author and teacher, is visiting Malta early next month to introduce the Riedel philosophy of wine-drinking to Maltese wine lovers.
Each grape variety and type of wine has its own individual characteristics. Riedel crystal glasses are created to reflect the properties of each, and to enhance the experience of tasting, smelling and seeing each particular wine at its best.
Selecting the correct glass for your wine focuses the flavours and aromas, turning every sip into an astonishing, unexpected sensual adventure.
During a series of demonstrations to be held on October 3 and 4 at Living Interiors, local representatives and importers of Riedel Fine Austrian Crystal, Mr Haidu will invite participants to savour the true flavour of their favourite wines, while experiencing the difference between drinking from the correct shape of glass and drinking from an ordinary, uniform wine glass.
Riedel's crystal wine glasses are hand-crafted to fine, clear and unadorned bells that ring musically when tapped. Size, diameter and lip shape are all determined by the wine they are intended for... as the glass tilts the liquid onto the tongue, lip shape determines which area of the sensory palate it hits first, highlighting the balanced flavours, maximising the fruit and integrating acidity or tannins into the overall pleasure of wine.
The taste of a single wine varies according to the glass you drink it from - this was first recognised by Claus Riedel over 40 years ago and further developed by Georg Riedel, who discovered that the delivery of a wine's 'message', its bouquet and taste, depend on the form of the glass.
This truth is now acknowledged by top connoisseurs, restaurateurs and sommeliers the world over, and Riedel wine glasses are featured in many of the world's top restaurants, including the only restaurant in London with three Michelin stars, Gordon Ramsey's Chelsea restaurant, and the Restaurant Lucas Carton, the Georges Cinque and La Tour d'Argent in Paris.
Riedel produces various ranges of wine glasses, including the Sommeliers range, recognised worldwide as the wine glass benchmark, and the Ouverture range, Riedel's beginners series for customers who appreciate good, reasonably priced wines.
Mr Haidu, who has spent his life searching for the 'holy grail' of wine glasses, now divides his time between conceiving new glasses for Reidel and demonstrating their efficacy to audiences around the world.
"These demonstrations provide audiences with crystal-clear evidence of the truth behind our philosophy," he said. "One hundred per cent of our guests start out as sceptics and end up exclaiming in amazement. I am looking forward to sharing this experience with Maltese wine lovers too."