Can a $75, hand-blown glass change the wine-drinking experience?

Move over Riedel. Zalto is the new gold standard of stemware.

Each hand-blown, featherlight, impossibly thin glass dramatically changes the wine drinking experience. Yet it’s durable enough to be dishwasher-safe and is reassuringly lead free.

“From the beginning, it was always our aim to get the glass as thin as possible, which is only achieved by hand-blowing the glass rather than using machinery,” says Christoph Hinterleitner, general manager of Zalto Glas GmbH, based in Austria. “This lets the wine take centre stage, which is how it should be.”

Zalto stemware is so thin and lightweight that drinking from it feels like experiential art; they seem barely there, making you feel at one with the wine. They’re the thinnest wine glasses I’ve ever come across — ranging between 0.4 and 0.7 millimetre in thickness.

One of the reasons they’re so lightweight is they’re lead free.

“Lead is traditionally used in hand-blown glass because of its low melting point, which keeps the glass liquid longer and makes it easier to work with. But we don’t use it,” says Hinterleitner. “Lead is quite heavy so it would add weight, and it’s not really healthy. In large amounts it can be dangerous, so we don’t want it in our glasses.”

Ironically, thinner, lead-free glass is actually more flexible than the thicker, leaded variety. So Zalto glasses aren’t as desperately delicate as they look, making them dishwasher safe — which is great given I’ve yet to meet someone who relishes the act of washing and drying stemware.

Zalto’s practicality is also reflected in its narrow product range. It offers just eight wine glasses, one of which is called the Universal — designed for any wine at all.

“We give the wine glasses names such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, White Wine and Champagne to be helpful, but those terms don’t really matter,” says Hinterleitner, whose father started the stemware line just nine years ago. “For instance, many people prefer to drink Champagne from the White Wine or the Universal glass. It depends what you like.”

This is a very different message than Riedel’s insistence every wine style or grape variety shows best in a specific glass, which is why the range is dizzyingly broad. Just this March, the company launched yet another shape specifically for Central Otago Pinot Noir. Riedel no doubt finds this premise quite lucrative, but I’ve always found it a bit ludicrous. Who has the money, inclination and shelf space for this level of wine glass gluttony?

Methinks Reidel is on to the glories of Zalto though because this year they launched a new collection of stemware they’re calling the Superleggero which, like Zalto, are hand-blown, lead free, ultrathin, lightweight and dishwasher safe. The range does not, however, offer a glass called the Universal.

Zalto stems are sold individually and aren’t cheap — they’re around $70 per stem — available from Ontario-based Amphora Trading. But they do strike me as a sound investment — especially the Universal stem.

Great stems really do make a difference. And once you’ve tasted wine from a wafer-thin, featherlight Zalto glass, everything else feels a bit heavy and bulky. There’s no going back, really. These hand-blown, lead-free, dishwasher-safe stems make you feel at one with your wine while revealing its aromas, flavours and structure more clearly than you ever thought possible. Below is a list of five outstanding wines — including four new releases — tasted from a Zalto glass.

Sparkling

NV Taittinger Brut Reserve Champagne (France) LCBO 365312 $59.95

A flute’s narrow bowl can concentrate carbon dioxide released from the bubbles, burning the nose. But Zalto’s flute is different. The bowl broadens beautifully midpoint giving the CO2 room to dissipate without compromising the stem’s long and languid shape. Taittinger’s NV Brut tastes best in this glass, its nearly rich aromas and flavours of dried apricot, cashew, orange oil, freshly rolled pastry and grapefruit zest commanding full attention. Score: 94

Mineral

2013 Domaine du Haut Bourg Pavillon Muscadet Cotes de Grandlieu Sur Lie (Loire, France) Vintages 426619 $18.95

Muscadet is the quintessential quaff for seafood, loved for its lemon-squirt acidity and restrained stony-salty character. But that minerality becomes almost manic in the right glass. The Zalto Universal teases taut almost forward aromas of crushed oyster shells, cool slate, and wet stones from the wine. On the palate, a tight, racy attack of green apple and salted lime erupts then lingers for ages. Lovely, superstylish stuff. Score 93

Creamy

2013 Closson Chase, Closson Chase Vineyard Chardonnay, VQA PEC (Ontario) Vintages 148866 $27.95

This expressive, creamy wine definitely shows best in the Zalto Universal — a larger stem than the White Wine glass in the range. The judiciously wooded, tightly wound Chardonnay starts with pronounced aromas of buttered popcorn then slowly unwinds with flavours of crème brûlée, almond oil, freshly grated nutmeg, salted caramel and white pepper to reveal a compact citrus core. A very complex, concentrated wine by one of Ontario’s most respected producers. This wine will be released Nov. 14. Score 92

Fruity

2012 Manoir du Carra Les Burdelines Moulin a Vent (Beaujolais, France) Vintages 424796 $22.95

Again, of all the wine glasses in the range, I felt this elegant yet meaty red from one of Beaujolais’ top growing areas — Moulin a Vent — tastes best from the Universal glass. The muted tapestry of aromas and flavours were just more expressive in this glass, giving rise to sun-warmed cherry, rubbed oregano, and red meat imbued with underbrush and fruitcake. The mood of this wine is both refreshingly affable yet still quite elegant and composed. This wine will be released Nov. 14. Score 90+

Robust

2005 Poggio Verrano Dromos (Tuscany, Italy) Vintages 107383 $39.95

This wine benefits from a broader bowl. While it certainly works well in the Universal, the bulging bowl of the Bordeaux stem offered a broad wine-to-air surface, letting this robust red relax a bit and release its considerable complexity. Black earth, chargrilled beef, roasted cherries, sea-salted chocolate, truffle, slate, black pepper, roasted coffee bean, warm cedar and so much more. Excellent value and a great bottle to tuck away for a special day. This wine will be released Nov. 14. Score 93+