World-renowned glass-maker brings message to Niagara
For some people, a wine glass is just a glass.
To Maximilian Riedel, an 11th-generation glass maker, it's a tool to bring out the depth of a wine.
The Riedel family's Austria-based company, which is the third-largest glassmaker in the world, specializes in designing crystal glasses suited to specific grape varieties.
A great glass is a messenger, Riedel said during a morning visit at Inniskillin Wines in Niagara- on-the-Lake Thursday.
"I'm not sampling the glass. I'm sampling the wine. I realize the wine would not be the wine I had in my glass if the glass were not the perfect messenger."
More than a decade ago, Maximilian's father, Georg, partnered with Inniskillin Wines co-founders Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser to design a glass specifically for the Canadian wine industry's crown jewel: icewine.
On Wednesday, the 31-year-old CEO of Riedel Crystal of America sipped a 2007 Riesling icewine from the glass his dad created in a room dedicated to his family at a winery known internationally for its sweet winter wine.
The Riedel room is a special event tasting area in Inniskillin's Founders' Hall, featuring a table made of scarred wood from the glass-maker's Austrian plant.
Riedel, whose family has been making glassware since 1756, said he never tires of tasting a wine out of crystal crafted to bring out its best.
"You can sell a wine glass based on esthetics," said Riedel, who created the company's successful "O" line, a series of original stemless wine glasses launched in 2004. "People will not understand it's actually a tool being introduced to them or they are just keen on figuring out themselves what is behind the Riedel brand pouring wine from one glass into the other.
"As soon as somebody teaches you, tells you the story behind the product, you never use something else again."
Riedel has 12 lines of glassware and sells more than 100 styles in a range of prices. In recent years, the company has tailored glasses for Pinot Noir in Oregon to a Shiraz glass for Penfolds Wine in Australia.
More large wineries and wine corporations are requesting their own glasses for their wines, Riedel said.
Riedel Glas Austria also owns glass companies Nachtmann and Spiegelau.
Debi Pratt, a spokeswoman for Inniskillin, said the winery waited for a visit from either Georg or Maximilian to officially launch its Riedel room.
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Canada AM visitsJackson-Triggs
Thursday morning.in Niagara-on-the-Lake.Grape King.wine pairings.Niagara-on-the-Lake's StratusNiagara's wine industry was given the spotlight on a national news program
Canada AM, CTV's morning show, broadcasted live for more than two hours from Jackson-Triggs Estate Winery
The program, hosted by Seamus O'Regan, featured several Niagara residents, including Niagara-on-the- Lake Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs and grape growers Doug Hernder and Lou Puglisi, the recently crowned 2008
Chef Andrew Dymond and sommelier Fred Gamula, both of Niagara-on-the- Lake's Prince of Wales hotel, guided O'Regan through local food and
The morning program has been featuring segments on Canada's wine industry all week through its Grape to Glass series. Wineries highlighted include
Vineyards and Inniskillin Wines, Vineland's Megalomaniac wines, and Beamsville's Organized Crime.
Maximilian Riedel, who comes from 11 generations of glass makers, also appeared on Thursday's program.