Elizabeth - I do
Reach out directly please - chris@cjfselections.com
Chris is top notch, and if prices are close to last yearâŠthe glasses are definitely worth considering. We love the Champagne 6-pack we bought. Iâve already broken oneâŠbut in COVID-19 we only need 2, so I can break up to 3 more and still be good. Iâve busted (Iâm clumsy) 4 of the 6 Cru glasses I bought. So this year Iâm going to check in on the 1855 to see if maybe I can break those âlessâ. These are exceptional glasses and a no-brainer with the BD discounts. Chris & his team have exceptional customer service, and as many have already noted, âhe does it rightâ.
i love my Liberté glasses. I just weighed a few they ranged from 90g-104g.
the video was great to see how these are made.
This is all I use! Love them! Well, I might sneak in a CrĂș once in a while.
We use the Mineralité and Liberté for Champagne, pouring some in each glass. In general for us, Blanc de Blancs show better in the Mineralité, and red fruit dominated Champagnes show better in the Liberté.
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Looking forward to picking up a few more Grassl glasses on BDay, picked up 1885 and Cru last year and love them. Would like to add to those if available and am thinking of picking up some Liberte or Mineralite for Chardonnay and Champagne. Looks like people use both for bubbles and whites so looking for some advice. In general our whites are Chards from Sonoma Coast, Oregon (or Goodfellow to narrow it down further), the crisper and minerally-er the better. Champagne similar although our tastes have not solidified in that area, our most consumed bubbles would be B-C Rose. Guessing the Mineralite would be the best bet?
I use Liberte for almost all whites. I do have a Riedel Chardonnay glass I will use for what I would call more round white wines.
In the original post in this thread Marcus Goodfellow stated they use Liberte for their Chardonnayâs. Thatâs what got me using them as I love his Chardonnay.
Best glasses and customer service. Canât wait to get more this BD.
Thanks for this, David. Iâve been using exclusively the Mineralite for bubbles, but will try what youâve been doing to see if it works at our address, too.
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Kind words. Thanks. Humbling. Really.
David makes an astute observation on the champs and the grape/glass combo.
We are finding more red wine makers shift to the Liberté for their tasting rooms. Realm being a good example.
Younger reds, even the âbigâ ones appear to do well with the wider base but focused nose.
As the reds age and alcohol can possibly be an issue vs fruit (or oakâŠ) the 1855 seems to dampen the impact of the heat.
We (my team and Alex/Grassl) try to pour wines into multiple stems each time.
While a Cru may be great for Nebbiolo as a general statement, that may not be true for one bottled in 1964.
I cannot stress enough how surprised you will be at times between glasses.
Iâve been really surprised by how well the Liberte performs and how versatile it is.
Recently got my hands on a sample set of Grassls and have been tasting several wines from them in a series Iâve been dubbing, âA glass (or two) for dinner.â Iâll taste a wine before dinner in what some would consider an inordinate amount of different glasses in an attempt to select which stem (or two) I most enjoyed drinking that wine from to use for dinner. The Liberte seems to be consistently chosen. Definitely picking up a few BD if available.
I do something similar, often making my wife skeptical that I am only drinking one wine! I will sometimes have the same wine in two or three glasses with dinner â then as I identify a preference, I pour the rest of the other two into the one I prefer. As Chris noted, it is crazy what a big difference the glass makes.
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Every time for me now, too! I had a hard time doing it a first, but they hold up amazingly well.
Like some of you geeks (Iâm looking at you, Ron) I also try the same wine in a few glasses from time to time at dinner and then consolidate the wine within the âwinnerâ.
Just had a 2012 trocken (dry) riesling last night. My previous favorite glass for riesling used to be the Zalto Universal, winning several home âcompetitionsâ.
Both my wife and I tasted side-by-side and non-blind with our Liberté and our Zalto (both purchased from Chris, with the latter being a slightly heavier glass by feel). Both of us felt the nose on the Liberté was more expressive and the palate was a bit more pleasantly intense and fruity.
A new champion, at least for a night.
12/31/20 Update: I had mistakenly mentioned Mineralité in one place above when I was actually referring to (and tasting with the Liberté). I have found I regularly prefer the Liberté to the Mineralité for riesling.)
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I really love the Cru for Champagne, but then I used to use the Riedel Burg glass most of the time before that. I find that the wide bowl lets them open up nicely.
I drink reds often from your tasting glass. Or at least that is what it used to be called. It seems very similar to the liberte just a little shorter. Really enjoy more fruit forward wines from that glass.
To echo Chrisâ point, I had been enjoying Tempranillo-based wines from Grassl 1885. Last night, I drank a 2009 Traslanzas Tinto from Cigales (100% old vine Tempranillo). It is a structured and still tannic wine but less so than the current release 2015. Side-by-side in the 1855 and LibertĂ©, there was a palpable difference. From 1855, the wine was lighter, less concentrated and less focused. Very good and leaning toward elegance. From the LibertĂ©, it was a powerhouse, the fruit was more expressive and focused. While I generally prefer subtle nuances, I had a clear preference for the wine from the LibertĂ©. (N.B. I sell these glasses and these wines).
To Riedelâs credit, they always seem to have recommended a smaller, more tapered bowl for mature Bordeaux as opposed to younger. I plan to do some more experimenting but, for now, this is my hypothesis as well.
Once the wine is in your mouth, the shape of the glass doesnât matter. I really believe wine glass shape really only matters with respect to aromatics.*
*a nod given to more/less air exposure, depending on glass, but Iâd argue the wine wasnât prepped or served in the best manner if one needs a certain shape glass to help the wine open up. I also acknowledge that for some older, more delicate, wines one might want to minimize/reduce surface area of wine exposed to air.
About to buy a new dishwasher. Any recommendations for grassl and zalto glasses?
Thanks,
I think glassware can affect more than just a wineâs aromatics. It can also change someoneâs overall drinking experience. The glass can be lighter or heavier, it can feel more or less comfortable in the hand, to swirl and to drink from, the thickness of the rim can vary, etc. All of those affect youâre drinking experience based on your preferences in those areas.
That said, Iâm a believer that glassware shouldnât be the determining factor for a wine to be great. If a wine is good, it should be good if drunk from a Grassl stem, or from any other glass. Glassware is there to elevate a drinking experience, not necessarily to to make or break it. If someone tell me a wine is only great if drunk from a specific glassware, then I gotta wonder how great it is if it only drinks well under one set of circumstances.