It's strange sometimes when a pairing just works in wine, whether it be with food or with an accessory, like this Lobmeyr "Water Glass on Stem" crystal glass. After we received our glasses from Lobmeyr Hong Kong, we had to slowly taste and test our way through them, since they aren't as specifically labelled as Riedel or Zalto ones are.

While Riedel in particular takes this obsession with pairing a glass to a grape to an almost inane level (does Grüner Veltliner really need its own glass?), Lobmeyr just has rather artistic, arbitrary names for their glasses. It would be much better for their marketing if they told the customer what each glass was best for, although maybe that's just not the style of the brand.

When we first received this water glass for example, the Lobmeyr representative in Hong Kong recommended we try it with Pinot or something brawny like a Super Tuscan. We tried some red Burgundies and the Crozes-Hermitage Syrah from Julien Cecillon, but ultimately the glass seemed to restrain the aromas and life of the wine. It was a bit too small and cramped for an aromatic red, and a modern shaped Burgundy glass would be much better for either Pinot or Syrah.

But one night I tried it with a Riesling from the Rheinhessen, and it just worked perfectly. Every element of the wine shone through, and there was a perfect harmony of acidity, sweetness, and aroma. Everything all at once worked.

I tried it over the next month with Rieslings from Pfalz, Mosel, and in this case, Württemberg, which is in the south of Germany. Usually locals know the region more for red wines, but their dry Rieslings are superbly terroir-focused.

Once again, the wines come alive in this glass in a way that they often don't in ones that are too wide or too narrow. Somehow when Lobmeyr was thinking of a water glass, maybe they had low alcohol Riesling in mind. I can't think of a better tool for drinking Riesling than this.

With a standard white wine glass from Riedel, it had a good searing acidity, but little identity, and more than a touch of bitterness. In the Lobmeyr, you suddenly had roundness, some flesh to add structure to the wines, and a sense of fruit and soil. I'm not a glass expert, but maybe Riesling is allowed to focus since the top is quite narrow but the bottom is quite wide. 

Anyway, if you are a heavy Riesling drinker I'd definitely recommend you send Amy an email at lobmeyr@11a.io. She's the Hong Kong rep, and while the glasses certainly aren't cheap, they'll vastly improve the taste of your Grosses Gewächs Rieslings.