Shaping the Wine Tasting Experience
BY James Murray
Introducing the Vintner Collection
“We set out to build a glass line with characteristics that are designed for the serious wine taster.” -JM
Last May, Jay Benson, Dana Sabatino, and James Murray ventured on a trip to the California wine country to visit tasting rooms and meet with wine producers we are considering for partnerships. Being inspired, we came back to Vermont and created new stemware to appeal to people serious about wine tasting, and lovers of thin, hand-blown glass that enhances the tasting experience, without having a glass that overtakes the wine, in weight and physicality.
The pulled-stem technique that we use, results in a thinner, more lightweight stem and bowl typical of a classic Sommelier’s glass. The thin stem and base offer functionality and grace.
The line was designed with modern proportions, taking cues from our Bristol red wine glass in form. The glasses are generously scaled to show off the wines within.
There are many options of wine tasting glasses by European makers that are machine made, and have a seam on the stem. The Vintner Collection from Simon Pearce does not have seams because we hand-craft each glass.
The thin bowl of the glass is designed to have a lot of volume, and room for air to circulate with the wine, and yet not be heavy. Ripple lines of our handcrafted process still appear in the bowl of our glass, different from machine made glass by other wine tasting glass companies in the industry. Our bowl shapes are ideal, and relate to how quickly we want the wine to pass into the taster’s mouth, which effects the experience and flavor.
An additional benefit of the thin base, is that it is easy to swirl the wine while holding the foot, during a wine tasting.
The Vintner Collection is sure to please anyone looking for the “whole wine tasting experience”, with the refined balance of the preferred wine in a high quality hand-crafted glass.
