Riedel vs Luigi Bormioli: Cabernet Glasses Compared

Vinum was the first collection to bring Riedel's grape specific shapes to a machine-made glass, which cut the price and made the idea mainstream. The Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot glass is the one most people own: 225 millimeters tall, 95 millimeters across, with a large tapered bowl and a thin, finely drawn stem. Riedel's recommended pour is 125 milliliters, about four ounces, which leaves the bowl mostly empty for the aroma to collect. It is dishwasher safe, and Riedel's FAQ says most of its glasses survive at least 1,000 cycles without losing shine when loaded properly.

The material is what Riedel now calls crystal glass: since 2015 the company has produced only glass that does not use lead oxide as a principal ingredient, so Vinum is not leaded crystal despite the brilliance. The Amazon listing does not say where the glass is made, and Riedel does not say on its Vinum page either.

Skip it if you break things. The bowl is thin by design and the price per glass is more than two and a half times the Luigi Bormioli's. Skip it too if you drink across many grapes and want one glass; the Gabriel-Glas below is the better answer.

Luigi Bormioli makes the Supremo in SON.hyx, its own lead-free crystal glass. The company's warranty sheet describes it as ultra clear, highly resistant to breakage, and able to keep its sparkle through more than 4,000 industrial dishwasher cycles. The stem is pulled rather than molded, so it has no seam, and it carries a permanent titanium anti-abrasion treatment that the maker says raises its resistance to breakage. The rim is laser cut and the foot is flat.

The Bordeaux shape holds 18.5 ounces in a convex bowl that the maker says favors Bordeaux, Merlot and Cabernet after ten minutes in the glass, and the base of the bowl has an indentation, which Luigi Bormioli calls the Epicure base, that catches light and shows the wine's color. The glasses are made in Italy and sold on Amazon by Amazon.com.

The 25 year limited guarantee is the clincher. It covers chipping on the rim or foot and any cloudiness or discoloration from washing, and the maker replaces the glass at no charge; you pay to send the damaged one back, and breakage from misuse is excluded. Skip it only if you want the Riedel's exact shape or the name. This is not Atelier, Luigi Bormioli's thinner top line, which Amazon sells only through third parties.

Zwiesel Glas, formerly sold in the United States as Schott Zwiesel, makes Pure in Tritan, a titanium and zirconium reinforced crystal glass that is the standard in restaurants that run glasses through a machine every night. The Pure Cabernet holds about 19 ounces, stands 9.6 inches, and comes four to a box for about $50, sold by Amazon.com. It is made in Germany.

The shape is the distinctive thing. Pure has a squared off bowl that steps in at the shoulder, more architectural than Riedel's smooth taper. It gives Cabernet the room it needs and looks deliberate on a table. Owners report years of dishwasher use without clouding or chips.

Skip it if you want the classic tulip profile; Pure's angles are a style decision you either like or do not. Skip it if you want two glasses rather than four.

Spiegelau says it has more than five centuries of glassmaking behind it, and Definition is its top machine-made series. The Definition Bordeaux is a tall, wide bowled Cabernet glass in lead-free crystal, made in Germany, dishwasher safe, and strikingly light in the hand for a machine-made glass. Spiegelau says the series is engineered for sensory performance and built to be durable and well balanced.

On Amazon the glasses are sold by True Brands, which Spiegelau names as its US distributor; that qualifies under our rule that a pick must be sold by the brand or its official distributor. At about $70 for two it sits between the Luigi Bormioli and the Riedel.

Skip it if you want a warranty; none is stated. Skip it if you want a heavier, more forgiving glass, which is what the Zwiesel is for.

Gabriel-Glas makes one shape. The StandArt is the machine-made edition, Austrian crystal, lead-free, about 16 ounces, with a broad bowl that narrows to a rim sized for reds and whites alike. It is sold on Amazon by Gabriel-Glas North America, the brand's own US arm, in a two glass gift box for about $68.

The argument for it is the cupboard. If the Riedel and Luigi Bormioli question is really about owning a proper Cabernet glass, Gabriel-Glas asks whether you need a Cabernet glass at all. Sommeliers and wineries use it, the company says, because one durable glass for all wines makes service simpler, and owners report it shows reds as well as most varietal glasses.

Skip it if you like the ritual of a tall Bordeaux bowl, or if you want more than 16 ounces. For a household that drinks a bit of everything and owns one set of good glasses, it is the one to buy.