My friend Thomas Zichtl, was over in London from Vienna, to show me some super new
glassware from an old established glass company in Austria called Zalto. The USP
of these glasses is that the curve of the bowls are tilted at the angles of 24°,
48° and 72°, which are in accordance to the tilt angles of the Earth. This, according
to the ancient Romans, showed that this triumvirate of angles made the produce stay
fresh longer and also improved the taste.
The development of these glasses was influenced by the extraordinary knowledge of
the priest Hans Denk, who spent decades studying and tasting wines and who is one
of the most revered wine experts in Austria. “Clear supremacy of the development
of taste and bouquet,” as Father Denk put it, are the advantages of these glasses
which Zalto has named the “Denk-Art series”. The supremacy of these glasses has been
recognised by leading sommeliers and wine commentators throughout the world, including
François Mauss, the president of Le Grand Jury Européen tasting group.
Thomas is also the export director of Château La Ligne, a Bordeaux Supérieur from
a few kilometres to the south east of Bordeaux and which was bought, on St. Patrick’s
Day 2000, by a Belfast businessman, Terry Cross. The winemaking is overseen by Gilles
Pauquet, who is also the consultant oenologist to Ch. Cheval Blanc.
Thomas had brought along a bottle of the 2005 wine and we thought that this would
be a splendid opportunity to test not only the glasses, but the wine. We used the
Zalto “Bordeaux” glass and compared the wine with using the Spiegelau “Vino Grande”
glass. In the Spiegelau glass, the wine felt a little astringent, whereas in the
Zalto glass, which had a much greater surface to expose the wine to air, it took
on a greater depth of character and brought out more of the fruit in the wine. A
definite plus plus for the Zalto glass. Perfection doesn’t come cheap, however, and
these glasses will probably retail in the UK at around £23 - £28. Nevertheless this
is about one third cheaper than the Riedel “Sommelier Range” which you could say
is its nearest equivalent, and retails at around £40.
To show off the glasses, we constructed a meal, cooked by Sonia, which will also
highlight the top cuvée Grüner Veltliner Rabenstein Vineyard 2007 from Dürnberg
in Austria, Ch. La Ligne (as above), Villa de Corullón 2000 – D.O. Bierzo from Alvaro
Palacios and a 1968 Colheita Tawny Port from Wiese & Krohn.
The delights of the wines………. and the glasses of course were sampled by a small group
of Press and Trade grandees and here is how it all panned out. More information on
the Zalto glasses can be found on their website www.zaltoglas.at
A little apéritif of Pol Roger Champagne and Dürnberg’s Grüner Veltliner Select 2007
were showed off in Zalto’s super elegant Champagne glass and the White Wine glass,
accompanied by smoked salmon and foie gras canapés. The Pol Roger was – well – Pol
Roger, nicely biscuity with the mousse well sustained by the shape of the glass.
The Grüner Veltliner – even though it was their entry level varietal wine was crisp,
aromatic and fruity, a good uplifting apéritif.
The next course was sea bass cooked in an amazing salt crust (see the recipe) mined
in Austria the Salzkammer Auseerland salt, which has become something of a cult foodie
item. This was specially sent over to us. We didn’t discover until later that it
retails at €4 for 250 grams! The sea bass was served with a light white wine sabayon.
With this we had the Grüner Veltliner Rabenstein Vineyard 2007 in Zalto’s Universal
glass. This glass is sized midway between the white wine glass and the Bordeaux glass
and is better used for heavier white wines as this example of the Grüner Veltliner
turned out to be, or for light reds. The wine is full in the mouth and sophisticatedly
aromatic as one would perhaps expect from 50 year old vines from a single vineyard.
The large Bordeaux glasses were used for the magnums of Ch. de la Ligne 2005 Bordeaux
Supérieur – a typically savoury Bordeaux which matched well with the Magret de Canard
with a plum and red wine sauce, just showing what good food wines the wines of Bordeaux
are. The venture in Bierzo in North-West Spain by Priorat master, Alvaro Palacios,
the Villa de Corullón 2000, showed great softness on the palate, although there was
an apparent streak of backbone to the wine, which would indicate that it will drink
for some time to come yet and did well with all the cheese, hard and soft. This wine
was served in the large, wide-bottomed Zalto Burgundy glasses.
Finally Sonia’s Fromage Glacé (see the recipe for this one) served with wild cherries
marinated in alcohol (as opposed to the usual prune and Armagnac) did the trick for
a very old 1968 Colheita Tawny Port from Wiese & Krohn, served in the small sweet
wine glass.
We are very excited about Zalto glasses, so much so, that we have decided to offer
them via our website at prices that will be less than those offered on Zalto’s own
website and you will have the advantage of paying for them in sterling. Click here
for details. Note you will buy from Trésors du Vin, which is our associated trading
site. Bacchanalians get 10% discount.
Zalto event
