The perfect glass for Sauvignon Blanc

In 1997 on a trip to Marlborough, New Zealand, 10th generation Georg Riedel had a realisation. Having debuted his illustrious grape-varietal-specific series, Vinum, a decade previous, he recognised that the range was missing a product for New World Sauvignon Blanc. 

This led Georg to host a workshop at Marlborough’s Cloudy Bay winery, where winemakers confirmed that the brand’s existing glasses did not bring out the ideal balance in the region’s specific style. Over the coming months, Riedel designed and distributed several new prototypes to over 1000 wine professionals worldwide, including 250 across Australia and New Zealand. The findings of this glass survey led to the creation of the Vinum Sauvignon Blanc glass. 

In 2017 as we approached the twenty-year anniversary, Riedel Australia and New Zealand’s Managing Director, Mark Baulderstone, began discussions with Wine Marlborough about how the variety was changing. “Wine styles inevitably evolve over the years, as a result of winemaking techniques, changing climate, and trend,” said Mark. “Marlborough believed that our existing glass was no longer perfect for their wines and, with 40 percent of the white wine consumed in Australia coming from New Zealand, we had to listen. We successfully designed a Pinot Noir glass for Central Otago, and we know New Zealand is a huge player in this part of the world when it comes to wine innovation. In order to continue to stand by our brand philosophy, we need to evolve with them.” 

In June 2016, Mark hosted another workshop with Wine Marlborough, with winemakers from 15 leading wineries including Giesen, Greywacke, Villa Maria, Cloudy Bay, Brancott Estate, Whitehaven and Wairau River. While the original Sauvignon Blanc provided a fantastic benchmark for the workshop and performed very well, it was outperformed by a couple of other glasses. 

Additional workshops were held in Australia and Italy to further test the glass shapes. From this Georg Riedel took a final set of new prototypes back to Marlborough to choose the ultimate glass for the current and future style development. The Veritas Sauvignon Blanc Glass is now available to the Australian and New Zealand from Marlborough cellar doors.