A small glass for a big, sweet wine. Sauternes from Bordeaux concentrates its honeyed, apricot-sweet notes into a small pour, and the glass is shaped accordingly.
The Expert's Description
The Riedel Sommeliers Sauternes 4400/55 is a hand-blown wine glass from the Austrian glassmaker Riedel's Sommeliers line, made from crystal glass. A dessert wine glass should ideally be smaller than a standard white wine glass, since Sauternes is typically drunk in smaller pours. Riedel's glassblowers have shaped the bowl to concentrate the sweet, honeyed and apricot aromas the noble-rot Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc blend from Bordeaux is known for.
Design & Material
This is one of the smallest glasses in the Sommeliers line, which actually makes it harder to hand-blow than a large glass – precision has to be even higher when there's less molten glass to work with. The small bowl concentrates the dessert wine's sweet, heavy aromas into a compact space.
Use & Recommendation
The glass is built for sweet dessert wines such as Sauternes, where a smaller pour concentrates the aromas best. Always wash it by hand – a dishwasher can quickly damage such a thin, small hand-blown glass.
Specifications
Name: Riedel Sommeliers Sauternes 4400/55 - 1 pc.
Producer/Brand: Riedel
Collection/Series: Sommeliers
Country: Austria
Material: Crystal Glass
Production Method: Hand-blown
Capacity/Volume: 39 cl
Dimensions: Height 200 mm
Quantity per Set/Pack: 1 pc.
Care: Hand Wash Recommended
Investment Potential
Investment potential is rated Low to Medium. Even though the glass is small, it's no less demanding to hand-blow – if anything, the small size requires extra precision from the glassblower, and as part of Riedel's original hand-blown Sommeliers line, the glass holds a solid place in the brand's history.
Did You Know?
Sauternes is one of the most labour-intensive wines to make, because the grapes must be affected by noble rot to develop their characteristic sweetness – a fitting parallel to the fact that the glass built for the wine also demands extra precision in the craft.
See our full range of Riedel Glass.
