Zaltos now made in Slovakia?

[David_Bu3ker]

Arv - you are not making any sense.

[Brent_S]

I remember how upset I was when my vans skateboarding shoes went from being made in Orange County California to China in about 1985. That’s a big change. Austria to Slovenia….Not so much.

[Stan_Y]

I’m just disappointed to learn that Zalto’s rather expensive glasses aren’t made by Zalto’s company, nor made by his father’s and grandfather’s studios in Neunagelberg, nor made in an “ecologically-sustainable glassware hut in the Waldviertel region of Austria”, and that “in order to be able to grow faster” he “made the compromise of accepting foreign investors” and "was pushed out and they kept the Zalto name.” Maybe, just maybe Slovakia is the very best place in the world to make the highest-quality wine glasses regardless of cost, but as Kurt Zalto describes his story, it’s not what is normally driving this kind of business decision.

Glassware Virtuoso Kurt Zalto Has Quietly Released His Masterpiece Wine Glass

[Michael_Heinrich]

Has anyone had a look at a map recently? You can literally ride your bike from Vienna to Bratislava, both countries are in the EU, I don’t see anybody here in Europe making a fuss about whether something was produced on either side of that particular border.

[J_Patrick_Lynch]

The Story behind the Wine Glass Cult - Falstaff

[Dennis_Borczon]

Don’t you hate it when someone gets you an article that answers every questions you might have had on a topic? Now my head is cluttered with a 1,000 year history of glass production…

[Howard_Cooper]

Brent there is a certain appeal to me of handmade by artisan makers with special expertise and tradition in a very high cost of living country, vs. outsourced to the lowest acceptable manufacturing price and quality.

Yes. People in poorer countries should know their places and stay poor forever.

[David_Bu3ker]

I’m just disappointed to learn that Zalto’s rather expensive glasses aren’t made by Zalto’s company, nor made by his father’s and grandfather’s studios in Neunagelberg, nor made in an “ecologically-sustainable glassware hut in the Waldviertel region of Austria”, and that “in order to be able to grow faster” he “made the compromise of accepting foreign investors” and "was pushed out and they kept the Zalto name.” Maybe, just maybe Slovakia is the very best place in the world to make the highest-quality wine glasses regardless of cost, but as Kurt Zalto describes his story, it’s not what is normally driving this kind of business decision.

Glassware Virtuoso Kurt Zalto Has Quietly Released His Masterpiece Wine Glass

So the actual quality of the glass is no longer your argument?

Nice job moving the goalposts.

[Henry_Kiichli]

Has anyone had a look at a map recently? You can literally ride your bike from Vienna to Bratislava, both countries are in the EU, I don’t see anybody here in Europe making a fuss about whether something was produced on either side of that particular border.

There used to be a tram/streetcar service

Historic Vienna-Bratislava tram is recreated

[Alan_Rath]

Has anyone had a look at a map recently? You can literally ride your bike from Vienna to Bratislava, both countries are in the EU, I don’t see anybody here in Europe making a fuss about whether something was produced on either side of that particular border.

Haven’t ridden a bike, but I’ve made the short drive! Which was a pita at the time, with east bloc border checks still in place.

[Alan_Rath]

I’m just disappointed to learn that Zalto’s rather expensive glasses aren’t made by Zalto’s company, nor made by his father’s and grandfather’s studios in Neunagelberg, nor made in an “ecologically-sustainable glassware hut in the Waldviertel region of Austria”, and that “in order to be able to grow faster” he “made the compromise of accepting foreign investors” and "was pushed out and they kept the Zalto name.” Maybe, just maybe Slovakia is the very best place in the world to make the highest-quality wine glasses regardless of cost, but as Kurt Zalto describes his story, it’s not what is normally driving this kind of business decision.

Glassware Virtuoso Kurt Zalto Has Quietly Released His Masterpiece Wine Glass

Man, I’m glad the second rate Slovakian glasses are available, because those Austrian Zaltos are fugly!

[Emily_Schindler_Weissman]

As has been pointed out, the borders (and names) of the countries in the Austro-Hungarian empire have shifted and changed over the years and are fairly meaningless in regards to the skill and tradition of glassblowing in that part of the world. Kurt Zalto’s family lineage goes back to the Venetian glassblowers, but nobody seems upset that his glasses are no longer made on Murano. Zalto added glass furnaces located in Slovakia years ago and the new address did nothing to change the quality of the glasses. Furthermore, the glassblowing teams are hired for their skill, not their nationality, and the teams come from multiple countries.

I, too, take offense to the assertion that the glassblowing was “outsourced to the lowest acceptable manufacturing price and quality.” Slovakians have a lower standard than Austrians? That not only reeks of ignorant elitism, it’s just flat out incorrect.

[Stan_Y]

Kurt Zalto clearly promotes the Made in Austria and family studio aspects of his new venture in that Forbes interview. Which I’d somehow bought into but sort of seems like marketing BS in the context of this discussion. That is what I am disappointed about. And maybe he’s dissing you guys in the process. I dunno.

[David_Bu3ker]

Kurt Zalto clearly promotes the Made in Austria and family studio aspects of his new venture in that Forbes interview. Which I’d somehow bought into but sort of seems like marketing BS in the context of this discussion. That is what I am disappointed about. And maybe he’s dissing you guys in the process. I dunno.

Cleanup on aisle 5 from moving the goalposts again.

[Stan_Y]

David I no longer see posts from you, suggest you do the same.

[David_Bu3ker]

Stan - I suggest you make sense. Ignoring reality won’t help you.

[Nicholas_C]

Frustratingly broke my last Bordeaux Zalto last night. Everywhere online in US seems to be sold out, does anyone know where I can source some?
I assume supply chain issues.

Purchased a pair of Zalto Josephine 3 to try in the meantime.

[Arv_R]

I see that John Flanagan’s cat’s continue their wrathful war on AustroSlovakian crystal…

[Chris_Seiber]

I’m not talking about the wine glass business here, buy I’ve read that the cachet to consumers of things like “made in Italy” has sometimes meant that businesses in Italy might import a bunch of low-cost workers from Southeast Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe to assemble things like leather products that can have the “made in Italy” sticker on them.

My point is that, even if a product is made in [prestigious first world western Europe country], that doesn’t mean your mental image of a bunch of skilled people whose families have been doing that craft in the country for generations or whatever is correct. There are ways to get around those things.

Again, I’m not talking about Zalto or wine glasses, but just challenging the old notions of what being made in one country or another may or may not actually mean in a globalized world.

[Bryan_B]

Frustratingly broke my last Bordeaux Zalto last night. Everywhere online in US seems to be sold out, does anyone know where I can source some?
I assume supply chain issues.

Purchased a pair of Zalto Josephine 3 to try in the meantime.

Yea… Bonsai & Wein in Saarburg, Germany. Broke my Universal a couple months ago and couldn’t find any in stock but luckily happened across some while on my trip to the Mosel. They have the BDX and Burgundy too. Probably not going to help you much though lol.