Decanter World Wine AwardsRiedel sues Eisch over breathable glass claims
- Monday 29 October 2007
The dispute revolves around a proprietary technology by which Eisch claims its glasses are ‘oxygenated’ after being blown. Eisch contends that the resulting ‘breathable’ glasses aerate wine faster than normal glasses, making young wines more expressive after only a few minutes of being poured.
According to Riedel boss Georg Riedel the third party who developed the glass oxygenation process first approached his company but was turned down after unsatisfactory tests.
‘The people who developed this [process] made a presentation in our office to identify their breathable wines. They were not able to. We passed,’ said Riedel.
Neither Riedel nor Eisch will disclose the name of the party which developed the process. Eisch would not disclose any information regarding the process.
‘Many companies and individuals have tried to discover that information, and we consider it proprietary. The results speak for themselves,’ Alan Zalayet, export chief at Eisch, told decanter.com.
Master of Wine and master sommelier Ronn Wiegand and writer Dan Berger both lauded Eisch’s breathable glasses after participating with other wine professionals in comparative sensory tests at ETS Laboratories in Napa.
Zalayet remains defiant.
‘We refuse to be intimidated by Mr. Riedel,’ he said. ‘We understand that he has a very aggressive approach to business. He purchased his major competitor as a way of eliminating competition, and he is now attempting to use his position of power to try to slow our growth in the market. The lawsuit does not affect any of our efforts in the USA market, nor does it question the fact that wines served in our glasses clearly have a more open and developed character.’
Have your say!
Dee
July 04 19:27
Love Eisch breathable wine glasses. We have been using it for years.
TARA TAN KITAOKA.
November 22 11:32
NOW GENTLEMEN, WE AS A COMPANY HAVE BEEN USING RIEDEL GLASSES FOR 23 YEARS.
OF COURSE, WE ALWAYS WELCOME
TRUE AND PROVEN REAL IDEAS.
WE ARE HAVING A VERY IMPORTANT TASTING IN TOKYO JAPAN ON 25TH NOV 2011, BUT WE HAVE A BIG PROBLEM ,EISCH CONDITIONS FOR THE SPONSORSHIP OF I.E.M ITALY WAS IN THIS TASTINGS WE AS PARTICIPANTS HAVE TO USE ONLY EISCH GLASSES. WE THINK THIS IS VERY UNFAIR, IF WE DO NOT COMPARE THE GLASSES, HOW DO WE, EXPERTS KNOW IF EISCH IS FOR REAL ???. I AM SURE FOR SUCH AN IMPORTANT ISSUE, EISCH MUST HOLD THE PATENT TO THE BREATHEABLE GLASSES. SO WHAT IS EISCH FEAR ???.AS A ITALIAN WINE EXPERT FOR 23 YEARS, I FEEL THAT THIS IS NOT THE WAY. IF THE GLASS IS REALLY BETTER THAN RIEDEL, WE AS A COMPANY WILL DEFINATELY USE THEM.