Maureen-email sent
Ok, purchase made but the only option I could choose for a dozen was âtube.â If the boxes become available (preferably two boxes of six) please send the glasses that way.
I use these in the dishwasher - Keeps them steady and upright - no issues
It looks like mine are arriving early! Iâm very excited to try them. Other than Riesling, what other wines show well in the MineralitĂ©? Iâm thinking of having a Liquid Farm Chardonnay or Dragonette Sauvignon Blanc with dinner tonight and wondering if those would show well.
I use the Mineralité for Champagne!
Jordan,
MineralitĂ© is an acidic wineâs friend. SB is solid, lots of white Italian and Greek fit here as well.
Dave - those are brilliant!! Thanks
Received my two 1855s last night. Love the shape. As others have commented, they are crazy light! These are my first âexpensiveâ wine glasses, and I never thought Iâd spend more than $10 on a wine glass, but here we are, and these are great. Maiden voyage was a Sandlands 2015 Trousseau. (Very good wine, probably not getting any better.)
From my experience, they become the ânormâ in 1-2 weeks. But itâs surprising how clunky many glasses feel once the Grassl become the norm.
I definitely agree with Marcus here. My Riedel Somm series used to seem light and delicate to me â now they feel like mass produced clunky wine glasses (well, I exaggerate a bit, but not as much as some might think!). I still use the Riedels. Sometimes they show the wine better â but I prefer holding and drinking from the Grassls because of their light weight and balance.
Donât worry, you will have 2 dozen âexpensiveâ wine glasses before you know it. Expensive wine glasses really do make a difference. I have converted numerous friends who thought spending more than $10 on a wine glass was ridiculous.
I have been using the Grassl mineralite and 1855 for the last few days and love them. The comparison to the Zalto universal and Bordeaux is almost the same.
We used the Zaltos as everyday glasses for six years and only broke two always during cleanup at the end of the night. They are generally durable glasses and I am sure the Grassl are as durable. Plus, I am excited about the shorter stems.
I unpacked the tasting glasses tonight, I will hopefully get to use them soon. I may need to order two more for an upcoming event.
Chris, I believe you mentioned something about shipping the tubes back for reuse. What are the details?
Got my set of tasting glasses today. More sturdy than the Liberte, but still amazingly light. I actually prefer the shorter stem. Very happy! These will become my offline glasses.
Curse you, Alan. Iâd resisted the urge to buy the tasting glasses as I have a dozen or more GGGs, 6 each of the Grassl Crus and MineralitĂ©s, and dozens of old Riedel Vinum and Spieglau Bordeaux and Burgundy stems. But your endorsement of their quality coupled with the reminder of offline breakage risks (particularly from chain reaction crashes triggered by overhanging plates on lazy Susans) inspired me to grab 6 tasting glasses at full price just for tastings away from home.
So, I got my 2 Mineralité yesterday, the same week I ordered and earlier than the tracking estimated.
While Iâve used some very nice glasses before at nice restaurants from time to time, our usual wine glasses are various Schott Zwiesel Tritan Pure, which sell for about $10 - $15/glass. While they are clearly not top of the line, we really like them, especially for the reasonable price and considering they seem particularly durable, yet not unreasonably clunky (or so I thought).
Upon receiving the package, I instantly notice that each glass plus the tube and paper packaging it comes in is noticeably lighter than our usual glass. After removing the glass from the packaging (very carefully), I finally experience the insane lightness of the glass. It is SO light that my other glasses now feel very heavy and clunky. The Grassl stems are so thin that itâs like thereâs hardly anything between my fingers. Although the glass seems so delicate that Iâm initially uneasy about swirling some water in the bowl, the impeccable craftsmanship is obvious. Itâs an absolutely beautiful glass without any noticeable imperfections or seams (I donât understand how people can make such perfect and precise glasses by hand).
Before testing them out, I put them in the dishwasher (bottom shelf, Monogram dishwasher, light cycle). They came out perfectly clean and 100% in tact. Dishwasher safe indeed!
Since we didnât want to open a random Riesling we werenât planning on drinking that night, we opted for a 2018 Tablas Creek Picardan, which would go well with our salmon. Iâve had this wine a few times before and think itâs a good, basic wine that can be nice with food, but nothing more (about 85 pts for me).
The glass of wine feels so great and balanced in my hand. It allllmost feels like Iâm just magically holding the wine above my finger tips, not a glass of wine. The wine swirls beautifully in the large bowl.
We first smelled the wine out of our usual Schott Zwiesel Tritan and then the Grassl. Out of the Schott Zwiesel Tritan, the nose wasnât bad, but it seemed almost generic with strong lemon, followed by some flowers, and a hint of minerals. Out of our MineralitĂ©, the first note we smelled was peach/stone fruit, then flowers, minerals, and some softer lemon. While Iâm not sure the nose was stronger out of the MineralitĂ©, it seemed more complete and well-rounded. We were both pretty impressed.
Now for the tasting. I will admit, I have a huge schnoz, but didnât find the comments about it possibly obstructing the smaller opening of the MineralitĂ© until after I made my purchase. My nose does indeed fight the glass and prevent me from fully raising/pouring into my mouth and from possibly putting the glass fully into my mouth (relative to someone, like my wife, with a normal sized nose). I have to tilt my head back to get the wine in my mouth, especially if thereâs not a lot in the glass (my wife doesnât have this problem). This was my biggest concern going into the test. However, wow, what a great drinking/tasting experience. Out of the much wider-mouthed Schott Zwiesel Tritan, the wine is a bit rough around the edges, as the acid is upfront and hits you pretty hard, without a ton of fruit and other flavor to balance it out. However, out of the MineralitĂ©, the wine is funneled down the center of my tongue (it doesnât really hit the sides of my tongue or my teeth) and as a result, the acid appears much more incorporated and the wine seems a bit rounder and softer (in a good way) and I notice the actually pretty nice flavors of the wine more now that the acid isnât blasting me right out of the gate. I couldnât really stop drinking out of the Grassl and drank this wine much quicker out of the Grassl because it was just notably more pleasant than itâs ever been. The experience was so great that I ended up not noticing my nose getting in the way.
Anyway, my first impression is that, even with a good-but-not-great wine, and despite my huge nose, the MineralitĂ© is an excellent glass that takes my wine consumption experience to a whole other level. While $50 - $60/glass is a lot for me, Iâll be surprised if Iâm able to wait until the next Beserker Day in an attempt to get the rest of the lineup on sale.
Jordan,
Thatâs one hell of a note. Thank you. 
To this point:
Itâs an absolutely beautiful glass without any noticeable imperfections or seams (I donât understand how people can make such perfect and precise glasses by hand).
If youâve never seen a hand (or is it mouth?) blown stem - the process is pretty interesting and likely not what you think it is. Alexander made this video on one of his visits to the factory. Heâs in the process of editing a much longer video to give everyone a sense of scope of the artisanship these men and women have. Take a peek: www.grasslglass.com
A glass is blown in a wooden mold that is cooled in water between stems. A 5 person crew produces a glass about every 90 seconds. Early runs of our stems had an approximate 50% failure rate (100% recycled - they just throw them in the furnace). But, even after the 35,000+ theyâve blown, the âAâ grade stem rate is probably close to 65% of all produced.
Since the glass is blown in wood, the wood burns. Each glass is therefore slightly different than the others. The video isnât quite long enough to get a great feel for it, but, the bowl and stem are blown and drawn as one unit with the bowl looking like a balloon on a stick. The base is added with a separate piece of glass.
You will notice the stems going through a fire line after the top is cut and polished. Much like steel, the material must go through a tempering process. Thatâs what you are seeing. I believe in the coming video Alexander shows this line in more detail as it is longer than you may think.
Tasting glasses arrived safe and sound!
Looking forward to trying them soon.
Thanks for the fast service
My 1855âs and tasting glasses are scheduled to arrive Tuesday according to FedEx.
Suggestions for characteristics of the wine I should open for the inaugural pour? Donât have much aged or old world wine in the house as itâs in the offsite and wonât be able to get it before Tuesday. So, think new world meant to drink young in the last five vintages.
I refreshed on some Liberte on BD and my 2008 JJPrum was just spectacular in the new glasses last night. I actually prefer Riesling in the Liberte to the Mineralite, but hard to go wrong either way.
Just amazing that they can do this and sell the product at retail for a profit at $50-60. Very labor intensive. And very impressive!
Just communicated with Chris to get 3 replacement Liberte stems that I managed to break over the past year - not sure aluminum stems would have survived what I did to these. Simple and easy.
When you factor in the great BD pricing along with the WB $10 replacement fee for broken stems, this is one of, if not the top value out there.
So happy for your success, Chris, and you have certainly earned it.