Spiegelau vs. Schott Zwiesel wine glasses

WINE TALK
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Holiday parties are fast approaching, so I’m looking to buy two sets of 12 wine glasses (Burgundy and Bordeaux) for entertaining. I’m looking for glasses that feel nice in the hand (and to the lip), but are inexpensive enough (~$10-$15 per stem) that I won’t be too upset when one breaks.

I’ve looked at dozens of WineBerserkers posts on this topic, and the two that I keep seeing recommended in my price range are Spiegelau Vino Grande and Schott Zwiesel Tritan Forte. What I haven’t seen is a direct comparison from someone who has handled both glasses.

If you have experience with both the Vino Grande and Tritan Forte, would you mind sharing your experience? Does one feel better in the hand? Have a thinner lip? Does either have a detectable seam on the stem? (Stem seams are a real pet peeve of mine.) Does one generally feel higher quality than the other? Do you prefer one over the other? Why?

I realize that a lot if this is very subjective, but your subjective experience is what I’m looking for. I can compare diameters and capacities using data that I find online, but there’s no way to get the subjective feel for the two glasses from website photos. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a local dealer of the Spiegelau, so that makes it more difficult for me to do my own comparisons.

Thanks!

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I have been more satisfied with my Schott Zwiesel glasses, sadly my favorite has been discontinued but if you can still find them around I can really recommend the grand cru Bordeaux (0,827l) glasses for both burgundy and in fact all wines more or less. Very allround and when I tried it out against the Burgundy specific glasses in the same series the Bordeaux always came out as good or better for PN for example.

I cannot recall the Spiegelau series I bought for my mother (can look it up later on), but the SZ were in my opinion much better.

Here’s a shop in Europe that has it just for your reference so you can see the SZ glass I’m praising:

https://www.alberoshop.it/catalogsearch/result/?q=Schott+Zwiesel+Cru+Classic+Wine+Glass+Bordeaux+827

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First thought: For party glassses, don’t sweat this too much.

Second, the only Tritan Fortes I have are small, 9.4 oz white glasses. The lips on those are beaded/rounded, while all my Spiegelau or flat (ground? cut?), which I somewhat prefer. But the Fortes are 10 or 15 years old. It’s possible newer ones are different.

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Don’t sweat this too much? I thought that’s what we do here! :wink:

Thanks for the tip about the lip. That’s exactly the kind of detail you can’t get from their websites.

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We use Schott Zweisel Pure Series at the tasting room. The week we were deciding on our stems, a friend working at another winery was polishing stems and required 10 stitches when a Riedel broke in their hand. Made the decision very easy for us. The Pure series is very durable (titanium) and the bowl is a very nice modern shape and great for swirling. They do have a seam as they are machine made. With a sale, they should be in your price range.

If you are not worried about breakage, these are very nice stems (similar in shape to the Pure series) at a reasonable price point that Amazon offers.

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I have been happy with the Spiegelau stems for parties. One difference, though, is I bought the Authentis line instead of Vino Grande simply because I slightly preferred the way they looked. They’re sturdy but not too clunky and, at least the ones I bought, inexpensive.

https://www.spiegelau.com/en/products/glass-collections/detail/authentis/

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Caveats - Many of the boxes are now gone, and some of these are sole survivors, which may not be reflective of what current production is like today. So I can’t be certain that all these are exactly the same lines that OP is querying. Also, it feels like some lines have changed brand names over time, again clouding ‘what is what’.

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Bordeaux: Spiegelau is on the left, the far right is an SZ Tritan Forte in 27 oz (?). The one in the middle is a 22 oz SZ, in what I suspect is also a Tritan Forte since it was the same look/feel/flaws as its bigger brother. Overall the lips on the SZ, while very fine, are not as crisp as the Spiegelau, but I’m not sure that Spiegelau depicted is in the line OP are curious about. There are no creases at the point where the stem meets the bowl on any of these. There very fine mold lines on the stem of the SZ, and one can visually see (in bright light) a ripple line in the base as well. Spiegelau also has that crease in the stem, but a cleaner base. The SZ bases have slight lips on their bases, which are larger than Spiegelau. I find the visual clarity of the Spiegelau to be a little less distorted when looking through them empty and twirling, but it’s hard to know if that is a function of more consistent crystal thickness, or slightly different geometry in comparison. The SZ have a more pronounced tulip shape, and among all my 22 oz Bordeaux types of stems, I think the Spiegelau’s are the most ‘slab sided’. I think these are all roughly comparable in day to day survivability; we break lots around here so that might be a consideration. It almost never gets mentioned, and I’m not sure they are still regularly available, but in this segment I think the Waterford Marquis 22 oz Bdx crystal is actually super. I find it is ever so slightly better balanced than these two, Riedel’s equivalent, and other producers.

If I had to choose only between OP’s selections, I would go with the smaller SZ.

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Burgundy: again, Spiegalau on left, SZ on right. Here, I’m not sure if the SZ are anything like what OP is considering. These Zwiesel Glas (the new brand SZ had adopted) in their (I think) Chime lineup. I like Spiegelau’s far more - they occupy less table / counter real estate, I prefer rounded geometry, and they feel more refined. The ones on the right have a crease on the stem, a lip on the base. The rims of the bowls, on both, are smooth and crisp, but the SZ might be ever so slightly thicker. It’s not something I’d measure with a caliper, but a person looking/feeling closely, might notice.

So with all the caveats that I’m not sure if what I’m contrasting is really what OP is considering, in this segment, I’d pick Spiegelau.

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Also consider the kind of entertaining whatever glasses selected would have to serve. Is it sit down style dinners, quaffing in the kitchen, standing cocktail parties, backyard bbq etc. I generally have guests choose what they want, and my observation has been that most lean toward smaller stems. Nowadays, it feels like all the glassware at these mid prices is really high quality and much more refined than what was available a generation ago.

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We bought the Pure series for entertaining. Can’t recall which place but we found 24 at one of the close out houses like Tuesday Morning or Marshalls for about 40% cheaper than retail.

A local party rental place also has them available for rent and I will supplement with rentals when I need more than 24. It is about $20 for 16 for a night and I can return them dirty which saves a lot of time.

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If you’re a member, check current offerings on Costco.com. Decent options for hosting dinners/parties and not the worst thing if one breaks.

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cant speak to reds by use SZ tritan Fortissimo whites as my primary white glass. satisfied tho the stem is slightly longer than necessary. Definitely not a rolled rim.

Have had various spieglau over the years. Expect them to be lighter and more delicate than the sz that I have experienced, but that also means I have broken a bunch of them.

At the same price point, assuming my experience holds true today, the tradeoff is a bit thinner lighter which may be considered more “elegant”. or a bit thicker and heavier and better durability

caveat I am far from a wine glass snob

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Arv - A few months ago I decided to line up all my Spiegelau Bordeaux glasses (20-25) and assemble consistent sets for tastings.

I found at least 4, maybe 5, different versions, with different heights, slightly different bowl shapes, different shapes where the stem meets the bowls, etc. Some have more conspicuous seams on the stem than others. It’s like they were made on different production lines. (Some of these date back before Riedel bought by Spiegelau.)

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I should have made clear that my Fortes glasses have only a very slight rounded lip – nothing like shitty Libby glasses.

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I’ve noticed the same in other lines, although probably not with all the variations you must have. They must have changed the procedures/tooling for making them many times, as well when ownership changed too. The height changes are the strangest - that is something that would have though would not need much ‘innovation’ on.

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The Luigi Bormioli Burgundy glasses on the Costco.com site are unusually heavy; I’d guess 240g or so. They felt more appropriate for hospitality than home use to me. I tapped up a review on the Stolzle ones last fall.

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Thank you so much for this detailed comparison. This is great information.

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I highly recommend the Schott Zweisel glasses over the Riedels and Spiegelaus from personal experience. They are less expensive and far more durable, punching well above their weight. I needed only one bad experience breaking a Riedel glass to swear me off of them forever.

The Schott Zweisel Pure series are readily available at retailers such as Williams-Sonoma and Crate & Barrel. You can order from a distributor directly if you can find one near you. I love their Finesse line but they seem to have discontinued it. The new Alloro and Roulette series are very nice, though. The All Around series is pretty good, too.

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Yes most party guests will not care what glass they are drinking out of and will most likely hold it from the bowl.

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Another vote for SZ Pure. We use them for entertaining. Haven’t broken one yet.

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An update: I ordered a set of Spiegelau Vino Grande Bordeaux glasses and was disappointed. The glass seemed generally to be of good quality—the bowl and lip were thin and pleasant—but the stem was very unpleasant to hold. The stem was thick and clunky (which was expected and forgivable at this price point), but it also had a distractingly pronounced seam that ran the full length of both sides of the stem. That seam is what made me return them.

To replace them, I ordered a set of Zwiesel Vervino (recently rebranded as “Verbelle”) which I’m much happier with. The bowl and lip of the Vervino/Verbelle are just as thin and pleasant as the Vino Grande, but the bowl shape is a little more “modern” (if that’s important to you). Importantly (to me), the stem of the Vervino/Verbelle is much more pleasant to hold. It is thin without being delicate, and although there is still a seam, it’s almost imperceptible. You would have to really be looking for a seam in the stem in order to notice it, at least on the set I received.

In short, I think the Vervino/Verbelle will be great for the purpose for which I bought them: relatively inexpensive stemware for our lake home that will stand up to use by a group that won’t always handle them delicately. Hopefully this will prove useful to the next Berserker looking for glasses for a similar use case.

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I bought the Tritan Forte 17 oz wine/water glasses for everyday several years ago and liked them. After breaking a few I ordered 6 more, but these had a thicker rim and just felt a little clunkier than the first 6 pack I bought. I’m now sold on the Zenology pinot glasses from Wine Enthusiast. VERY similar to the Zalto burgs AND they come with a ten year breakage guarantee. I’ve gotten four replaced after I broke them. $150 for 8 glasses.

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