Manifesto
Four principles. None of them are ours — we just say them louder, with better typography.
Bowl shape > grape label.
Riedel sells 80 glasses. Under the hood there are six bowl families. Learn those and you navigate the whole world. Skip them and you just collect a cabinet.
Nebbiolo & Pinot Noir share a bowl.
Both want a wide body and a narrow opening. Riedel knows. Most sommeliers don't want to hear it.
Sangiovese goes in Hermitage. Super-Tuscans don't.
Pure Sangiovese — Chianti, Brunello — wants the narrow Hermitage bowl. Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Solaia are Bordeaux blends with a Tuscan postal code: they belong in Bordeaux. Fight about it. We brought the glass.
Champagne in a wine tulip.
The flute is an 80s wedding mistake. Bouquet beats foam crown. Let the wine breathe like the wine it is.
Founders & Adopted Patron
Three co-founders, plus a patron we picked up along the way. We won't give him the brand back, he won't take it from us — working since 2023.
Olli, Tobi & Herb
Three co-founders in a hallway. Three glasses. One consensus: if you're going to drink wine, drink it properly. If you're going to joke about it, make the joke worth the bottle.
… and Maxi.
Maximilian Riedel is not a co-founder. He adopted the movement over time — which, strictly speaking, is the more elegant move.
Countersigned.
The adoption was one-sided, until he put on the shirt in his own cellar.