Riedel vs Zalto – Stemware battle … and the winner is ..

I have followed the Zalto stemware over quite some time now, but never got around to making a more formal test of these lightweight beauties. I was therefore quite exited when the danish importer of Zalto, Ved Stranden 10 gave me the opportunity to test the Zalto Burgundy glasses.

I must say it has been an interesting and in many ways also surprising journey to explore the qualities of the Zalto Burgundy stemware.

The analytical Zalto’s

The tasting experiences were surprisingly consistent concerning the qualities of the Zalto Burgundy glasses … compared to the Riedel Vinum Pinot Noir I normally use. I will continue to compare the glasses … and report new findings … but here is the current evaluation of Zalto Burgundy.

The Zalto’s are more forward and expressive from get-go … the wines feel more airy and detailed. The Zalto glass is slightly more focused on the structural elements of the wine … acidity and minerality …and have relative to the Riedels less emphasis on sweetness, body and volume. Where the Riedels seem to deliver a more rich, sweet and harmonious expression – the Zalto’s offer a more transparent crystaline expression.

The more analytical nature of the Zalto’s is, in my view, an advantage with most good wines, but with old fragile wines the scrutiny of the Zalto’s can disintegrate the wine. The revealing nature of the Zalto’s is most likely not ideal with poor and or low quality wines – they will find and focus on the faults and inperfections. This is however often the case with stemware with large high volume bowls.

One element has been of some controvercy … can stemware influence the taste of the wine or only the bouquet. In my view the glass can influence at least the perception of the palate … and the Zalto’s seem to do this quite consistently with a slight emphasis of the acidity in the finish.

This emphasis on the acidity seem to add a vibrant freshness to the wines, and is most likely why the Zalto’s seem more energetic and transparent than the Riedels.

The verdict … and the winner is

The winner of this small stemware battle is the Zalto Burgundy glass. They outperform the Riedel Vinum Pinot Noir in most cases – as they serve more details and finer nuances and deliver more transparet and energetic impressions of the young and younger wines.

Zalto Burgundy – is now my preferred choise when I taste young and younger Red and White Burgundies. I need to test a bit more with older wines, but so far I still prefer the Riedel Vinum Pinot Noir to old and fragile red Burgundies. But most likely the Zalto’s will be the prefered stemware for more than 90% of the wines I taste.

For professional use the Zalto’s are outstanding – as the analytical style is perfect when you want’s to explore all details and flavors in a wine. Another positive thing is that the wines seem to perform from the get-go when you use the Zalto’s … this is quite important for professional use.

For the Burgundy connaisseur the Zalto stems offer a transparent and energetic expression of the wines with loads of detail and high accessability. They are not ideal with old and fragile wines, but with young and younger wines they seem to work perfectly.

I highly recommend the Zalto Burgundy glass

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