Taking the wine glass up a notch
The wine glass has looked pretty much the same for centuries, but Lower Makefield’s Peter Rigas is set to give it a makeover. Rigas’ Yardley-based business — Tomzi International Ltd. — has styled a wine glass with a deep notch in the rim. The notch allows the user’s nose to enter the glass while drinking. That, he said, gives the drinker a deeper appreciation for the smell and taste of the wine while creating a barrier that blocks other odors.
“It allows you to get intimate with the bouquet [of smells],” Rigas said.
Rigas said he struggled mightily to find a manufacturer to cut the notch exactly the same way for each glass and produce the handmade notched glasses on a large scale. He finally found a manufacturer in the Czech Republic for the patent-pending wine glasses.
The glasses are available online under the Silhouette name at www.greatestwineglass.com. They retail for $54 each. The price is lowered to $50 each when ordering four or more. Rigas attributed the price to the meticulous process of cutting, cleaning and polishing that creates the smooth curve of the notch.
“We’ve had multiple repeat customers that we see popping up,” Rigas said. “People are buying them as gifts. It’s the most unique wine gift out there.”
Rigas has sold the glasses for the last year. Some independent shop owners have stocked them, but he hopes they’ll hit stores on a larger scale in 2009.
Whenever someone challenges one of life’s conventions, they have to be ready to hear from some detractors, Rigas said. And that has been the case with Rigas’ invention.
Peter Ricci, general sales manager at Tinicum’s Sand Castle Winery, said he prefers the tried-and-true method of decanting red wine. He pours it out of the bottle and into a decanter to let it breathe and then he drinks it out of a wine glass with a bowl large enough that the nose catches the aroma.
“If you need a notch, perhaps your wine glass is too small,” he said. But to be fair, he quickly added, he would be interested in trying the glass before deciding for sure. “If [Rigas] decides to trot down to the winery and he says, ‘Let’s do a comparison sampling’ and I see a difference I’ll be the first to say … I agree with you,” Ricci said. Rigas takes a philosophical approach to the criticism. “If you don’t get that negative response from some people, then you haven’t created a thing,” he said. “Everyone who has revolutionized something has gotten that because you’ve raised eyebrows. I welcome that.”
Rigas said he’s always been full of ideas.
After 25 years in the restaurant industry, he decided he wanted to start his own business getting his ideas patented, brought to life and then brought to market. He spends his days coordinating with his network of suppliers, manufacturers, engineers, lawyers and accountants.
In addition to the wine glass, he has created a clothing and apparel hanging system that attaches to door hinges, a toilet lid that doubles as a scale and an apparatus that replaces empty toilet paper rolls with fresh ones.
“Everyone has something work related that they’d do for free,” he said. “I’m doing something I absolutely love. It’s a joy to come to work.”