There is something to be said for a wine region’s fame when it even has stemware specifically designed for it. This is the case of DOQ Priorat in Catalonia, a region that now enjoys its own special glass, designed by Zwiesel 1872. (You can read up a bit more on this article in Spanish.)
We were lucky to personally experience this glass last week while researching the Priorat region, at Marco Abella winery just outside of Porrera. It’s a lovely property with fantastic unusual wines that, when it came time to taste, were poured in to these Priorat glasses for us to taste. While the glasses are made by Zwiesel 1872, we learned that they were chosen by famed Empordà sommelier, Roger Viusà who happens to have an excellent wine bar in Girona called, Plaça del Vi 7 (that’s also the address). As it turns out, the menus of the bar are designed by the Lluís Serra i Pla of Senyor Estudi who is the brother of Josep Serra i Pla, the ever-more-popular Empordà winemaker of La Vinyeta. That last sentence is just to say that while the wine world of Catalonia is a small bowl of soup, it’s a very deep one.
Anyways, back to these glasses which are indeed mighty fancy, well balanced, and elegant as hell. Of course the big question is, do they make the wines taste better? We had far too many wines to taste that day after Marco Abella so we couldn’t do a proper comparison with a “lesser” glass. That and their wines are so good, you could probably just suck them straight out of the bottle, grinning like the fully content wino that you are. Needless to say, these Priorat glasses hold the full bodied reds of the region in such a way that it allows the bouquet of aromas to develop and stay in the bell of the glass to be enjoyed for hours. So yes, Roger and Zwiesel did well.
Of course, for those content to sip from a low ball and call it a day, you might want to stick to that as while I can’t find any direct price of this glass, if the Rioja glass’s $70 USD price tag is any indication, it ain’t cheap.
You can read even more in our regional Priorat wine guide
