I am delighted to represent and collaborate with Zalto on their signature collection of Aldo Sohm glassware. I was first introduced to the company in 2007 when I was invited to a small tasting in TriBeCa, where I met Josef Karner, CEO who gave me a selection of glasses to take home and try. Everyone at the tasting was captivated by the glasses, but I wanted to spend more time with them to form my own opinion. Needless to say, I was impressed – by their design, performance, delicacy and by the philosophy behind them.
The glasses are both powerful and subtle and along with their shape and architecture, help to enhance the wine. Wines served in these glasses, especially mineral driven wines, are more precise and I found that the nuances, normally hidden by the fruit and alcohol, are elevated. For me, the appeal is in the subtlety and the almost-zero gravity of the glasses. Nowadays, wines get more and more uniform in the flavor profile; bolder and more concentrated – a development which is a result of global warming and also due trends in winemaking used to score points with wine critics! I like how these glasses express the terroir of a wine. They add balance and give the taster the delicacy of a wine back.
Each glass has been carefully designed to complement the wine it has been created for. I use the ‘universal’ all the time – it’s truly a great all-purpose glass, but I’m always inspired by the elegant champagne glass. The durability of these glasses allows me to carry them in my bag without their boxes or any protection. For both performance and aesthetics, this is an ideal collection for any wine lover.
The idea to create this wine materialized over a casual lunch with Gerard Kracher in a Thai restaurant in Queens, New York City. With our individual knowledge and passion it was a natural progression for us to combine our expertise. We decided on Grüner Veltliner because we had never worked with it and it was an opportunity to work with one of our favorite grape varieties.
Designed by renowned flatware and wine-key crafters Laguiole, this piece has been two years in the making. As I have been using Laguiole for my entire career as a sommelier that spans 14 years, it has always been a dream of mine to partner with them to design my own wine-key. In 1992, Laguiole founded a ‘Best Sommelier in the World’ series of keys, which spurred my ambition to create my own.
