The glass for Commandaria

The beginning was made last March, when the House of Riedel came to the island after an invitation of the Wine Products Council and its local representative. The intention of the visit was for a group of wine experts to indicate the most suitable wine glass for Commandaria.

Riedel glass for Commandaria

Some days ago, it was the turn of another well-known wine glasses manufacturer, the German House of Schott Zwiesel. After an invitation of its own representative here on the island, (Virardi Enterprises Ltd), and the Cypriot Sommelier Association, came to Cyprus to try to find from its own wine glass collection the most suitable one for the consumption of Commandaria together with the most suitable for the local variety of Maratheftiko.

I will stand at the choice of the glass for Commandaria, since I consider that the selection of a glass for Maratheftiko was premature, as we do not have yet a clear and lucid image of the organoleptic profile of the specific variety. As it is known, due to the limited cultivation of this variety, rarely a local wine maker vinifies it. Consequently, I do not think we are in position to speak about the style of Maratheftiko.

Schott Zwiesel glass for Commandaria

As one of the participants of the panel, I consider that the most important moment of the whole event was the selection of the wine glass from the Schott Zwiesel line for Commandaria. I sincerely believe that if we wished to nominate a certain glass as the one for Commandaria, then the glass of the line DIVA of Schott Zwiesel with code no. 8015/4 and selling price of £2,55 that was chosen by the panel would be the best choice.

I support this choice for various reasons. Below I quote the most important ones:

• I have attended both workshops (Riedel and Schott Zwiesel) for the selection of the best wine glass for Commandaria and I firmly believe that the glass of Schott Zwiesel best brings out the wine’s aromas and flavour.

• The glass of Schott Zwiesel was chosen through a procedure, whose result was much more convincing. At the workshop of March, we were presented with 14 glasses from which we had to exclude in each round the four worst ones, reaching gradually to two and finally to the best one. On the other hand, at the workshop of Intercontinental Hotel the participants were successively presented with two sets of five glasses, from which they had to choose the two best ones. At the last stage remained the four top glasses and finally the best one. This last procedure was perfectly organized by the director of the company Virardi, Mr Eugenios Savva. It matched better my own working style, although some other colleagues found the procedure of Riedel workshop better.

• The glass of Schott Zwiesel refers more to a sweet wine than the glass of Riedel. It has, in my opinion, a more attractive shape for the consumer, one that approaches the wider idea of wine lovers of a dessert wine glass.

• Extremely important is also the fact that the glass DIVA 8015/4 offers good quality at good price as it is sold at £2,55, while the competitive one is priced at around £10. I think it is very difficult to find wineries in Cyprus or wine lovers, who are willing to spend £120 to buy a dozen of wine glasses for Commandaria. On the other, it is clearly easier and much more reasonable to spend £30 to get a dozen wine glasses DIVA of Schott Zwiesel in order to enjoy this sweet Cypriot wine.

Beyond my personal opinion, of course, there are the irreplaceable taste experiences of each one of us that may show preference to the wine glass of Riedel or any other wine glass from the hundreds that exist in the wine trade today. Besides, the Schott Zwiesel itself states that it is better to match our glasses to the wines than the wines to the glasses. 

25/11/2006