Customer Reviews

Riedel Vitis Pinot Noir Glass, Set of 2

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The Vitis series is the most modern looking of Riedel's varietal-specific, shaped wine glasses. Depending on your taste, this can be good or bad. They are certainly elegant and stylish, but they are also huge. If you're only used to "normal" store-bought (or wedding-gifted) glasses, these will likely surprise you coming out of the box. Once you get used to them, those other glasses will seem insignificant. These pinot glasses have a nice, large bowl, with a relatively narrow opening, which helps to concentrate the smell of the wine. Looks aside, the big question is: do they affect the taste? If you're a wine connoisseur, you'll likely notice some difference. If not, well, you probably won't. However, you still can impress your friends with the great looks. If you are one of those wine connoisseurs, you'll want to keep in mind that Riedel offers only six styles of the Vitis series for wines (three reds, two whites, and champagne), plus one for martinis. Their other series have many more to choose from. If you're not a wine connoisseur, that means there are fewer to buy to have the whole set.

Practically speaking, these glasses have one major flaw: the crystal is exceedingly thin and fragile. Out of the dozen or so Vitis glasses I own, I've broken three of them (including one of these) through hand washing. Several factors combine with the thin crystal to make them very prone to breakage. Some of them (like these pinot noir ones) have very narrow openings, which makes it difficult to insert a sponge for cleaning or towel for drying. I was doing just that when one of the glasses just "popped" apart, fortunately not cutting my hand. The length of the glasses, which looks very elegant, makes them difficult to wash in a standard-sized sink. If you even tap the edge of the bowl on part of the sink (or anything else), they break. Since they only sell these in 2-packs, you have to spend another $60-$70 for another pair if you break one and want to drink with a significant other. FYI, Riedel is contradictory in its washing instructions. In some places they say hand-wash only, in others they say they are dishwasher safe. Even if you want to try to put them in the dishwasher, you won't fit more than a few of them in the top rack because they're so long.

These are huge delicate stems! From a wine drinking perspective, they do a lovely job with delicate Pinots that seem to lose their way on bowls with wider top apertures and outward flares. They'll take no abuse whatsoever, but you probably figured that out already. Visually they are beautiful with wine in them -- the wine that fills the bottom teardrop shape comes through to make a stunning presentation. Guests will be delighted, and you'll feel special using them.

There's a little quirk, with all of that said, which seems common to all of the Vitis wine bowls, but is especially pronounced in the Pinot stems -- sharp lateral movement of the glass (e.g. sliding it quickly on a table towards you) seems perfectly tuned to launch wine out of the glass! In most glassware, you get a little wobbling or gyration from this, but it seems to tune perfectly to the shape of the glass, ride up the wide slope, and then accelerate and launch out the lip. This can be a pretty nasty surprise. Once aware of this quirk, it's pretty easy to avoid, but everybody that's tried mine have noticed it.