Riedel vs Zalto …. Burgundy stemware battle

I have been using Riedel Vinum stemware for ages … I think I got my first Chardonney glass back in 1990, and soon after the Pinot Noir glasses followed as did other types.

After 20 years with the same glass it is indeed difficult to change stemware, and while I have tried the Riedel Sommerlier series on occations I remained faithful to the trusted Pinot Noir glass from the Riedel Vinum series.

There is however a new challenger in town that I really needed to try out – the Zalto Burgundy stems from Denk’art in Austria.

The tempting Zalto’s

I was sort of suduced by the Zalto on June 7th 2013 – a beautiful summer evening at the Copenhagen Wine Bar “Ved Stranden 10“. We had a few lovely wines – just one of these perfect evenings. But were the Zalto’s just a summer fling – I really needed to take a closer look at these beautiful glasses.

Earlier this month I had a talk to the danish importer of Zalto – also “Ved Stranden 10” and he agreed to let me test the Burgundy stemware from Zalto.

The Zaltos – lightweight beauties

I was quite exited to try the Zaltos out … so I qucikly unpacked the two beauties from the box. Allthough I know the Zalto’s quite well I was very surprised to see the difference between the Zalto’s and my old Riedels – see picture below (difficult to take good photos of stemware).

The Zalto’s are first and foremost larger than the Riedels .. with a volume of 960ml compared to the Vinums 700ml. They are taller and with a wider bowl, but the opening in the bowl is almost identical to the Riedels.

While they are larger they are also very much lighter than the Riedels. The Zalto’s weigh in at around 140g while the Riedels weigh a whopping 215g – thats a huge difference.

So first impression – the Zalto glass feels very much lighter .. they are delicate and refined … while the Riedels feel old and bulky … hard to say about a close and trusted friend for the last 20 years.

Enough talking … let the match begin!

In the red corner … the defending champion Riedel Vinum, Pinot Noir … in the Blue corner the challenger Zalto Burgundy.

Lets get ready to rumble ……..

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