 Wine Tasting 101 WSJ.com article by author Lettie Teague; our Experience wine glass collection; Great WSJ.com article on the basics of tasting wine and developing one's nose and palette. Author Lettie Teague does a great job of taking much the "stuffiness" out of the world of wine and making it all so very approachable. Approachability is something that we believe in, as well.
In fact, approachability is something we strive to put into every wine glass (and, frankly, any glass) that we produce. Our factory artisans in Weiswasser, Germany have been doing that for 130+ years. Wine is for enjoying and knowing what wines you enjoy. Our job is to produce high-performance glassware to bring out the very best in your favorite wines. Author Teague is correct in citing Homer's quote "The journey is the thing." We'd like to think having the right wine glass helps to make the journey not only a bit easier, but a bit more enjoyable, as well. More smile on more faces. Indeed. You can read Lettie Teague's article by visiting: https://www.wsj.com/articles/wine-tasting-101-an-accessible-guide-to-key-grapes-terms-and-techniques-11623954714 #BornInFire #StolzleForLife  Stoelzle Oberglas wins the Styrian TRIGOS sustainability award
Birgit Schalk, Sustainability Manager at the Stoelzle Glass Group, is glad that the winning project “Prestige Recycling Glass” has gained such significant recognition: “The challenge is to continuously improve the energy-intensive process of glass production AND at the same time keeping the glass quality at a consistently high level. With our new batch formula, we have closed the gap between the highest quality and sustainability and have been producing brilliant, color-stable white glass with at least 20% PCR since autumn 2020, which saves 20% of natural raw materials, 4% energy and around 16% CO2. Accompanied by a quality assurance concept to maintain the high-quality glass color, we are now working on both gradually increasing the cullet content and further optimizing the glass color and batch. " The jury also underlined the importance of the Stoelzle initiative "Green Knowledge", which was launched in autumn 2020 as part of the Stoelzle Academy: In six virtual workshops, more than 100 interested Stoelzle employees learned from external lecturers with regard to the topic of "Climate Change - Myth, Risks and Opportunities”. Renowned award for sustainable business The TRIGOS is Austria's most renowned award for responsible management and has been awarded annually since 2004 on a national level and at regular intervals at the level of the federal states, as well. The award recognises companies for their excellent leadership roles and as a role model for responsible management and sustainability. Those companies clearly contribute to the future growth of the Austrian economy, society and the environment. Read more about the winners!
 It’s true that many of our wine glass collections are award-winning. But we also love it when our barware receives recognition as best in class, as well. So, we are thrilled to have our New York Barware as a winner of the 2021 Tableware International Awards of Excellence in the Barware category. and was formally announced on last week.
With more than 175 entries this year from the world’s leading brands we are incredibly proud that the international judging panel has chosen Stolzle as the winners for the Barware category. Stolzle Export Manager Jan Zschiesche commented on the award, “We always proud when our products are recognized as glassware is category filled with so many excellent companies. Having our New York Collection chosen for this year’s Tableware International Awards of Excellence is a special honor for two reasons. First, this award is in the Barware category, a category that so many people are now discovering Stolzle’s skill and expertise. Secondly, Our Manhattan and Club designs within the New York Barware series also showcases the great decoration range and capabilities of Stolzle’s factory artisans.” Today, Stölzle Lausitz GmbH has maintained its independence, even within the company Group Stölzle-Oberglas AG. For more than 130 years, Stolzle has been developing new products and processes independently at its factory in Weißwasser, Germany. Today, Stolzle is one of the biggest producers of glassware in Germany. The Tableware International Awards of Excellence features 15 different categories and a Lifetime Award winner each year. The categories range from dinnerware to coffee and tea ware, from barware to hospitality glassware, to innovative dinnerware and more. Judges for the awards include designers, retailers, hospitality professionals, and category experts from all corners of the globe. #BornInFire #StolzleForLife  While its true that the creative talents of the Prestige Spirits Group of our sister company, Stoelzle Glass Group, may inspire your spirits, it also inspires our team at Stoelzle Lausitz to keep our glassware development in top form, as well.
After all, our Stoelzle Glass Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-end bottles for premium spirits and liquors. Stoelzle also has great expertise in both custom design and standard glass containers. It is through their Innovation Team, which consists of designers working closely with the clients, taking their beautiful concepts and producing outstanding products. Great creative ideas, executed flawlessly, producing an exclusive touch of luxury which can be added to all products in decoration. So proud of the inspiration our sister company brings to so many.  Speaking of new products, here's even more fun on its way from our factory artisans in Weiswasser, Germany!
Not only does our product creation team have its finger on the pulse in glass making, but their touch is also on the pulse in glass decoration, as well. This is demonstrated by the two modern cuts 'Club' and 'Manhattan', which are now available for the cosmopolitan-inspired NEW YORK BAR range. The design language of this brand new collection focuses on elegant understatement in combination with high-quality crystal glasses to create a sophisticated bar atmosphere reminiscent of New York City’s buzzing nightlife. The decorative 'Manhattan' cut picks up on the up-and-coming straight lines of the district of the same name, while 'Club', a diagonal cut, gives the glasses a stimulating dynamic. We absolutely love how our factory has created the matt finish that has been carefully executed and the lines capture the attention of those drinking from the glasses, while the clear crystal glass casually corresponds with the opaque cut. And - depending on the beverage in the glass and the color of the drink, the light is playfully refracted along the individual lines, creating one more unique point of difference – all transporting the guest back to a more romantic and refined place in time. While they're not quite here in America just yet – definitely have your friendly bartender be on the lookout for the new Club and Manhattan cut glassware from our NEW YORK BAR Collection! More smiles on more faces. #BornInFire #StolzleForLife  The Las Vegas Global Wine & Spirits Awards are to be held once again later this year with the wine competition to be held in August and the spirits competition to be held in September. Stolzle, along with our hospitality distribution partner RAK USA, is both proud and excited to once again be supporting the Las Vegas Global Wine & Spirits Awards. Recently, we had the opportunity to chat with Founder/Executive Director Eddie Rivkin to discuss the award programs and how they came into being - and, how he managed to continue to hold them despite the COVID pandemic. Here's what he had to say:
The goal of the awards is to become the pre-eminent, most credible source for evaluating scoring and awarding medals to wines and spirits in the world. Additionally, because of success in the Las Vegas Global Wine and Spirit Awards, our goal is to help brands gain access (distribution) in the highly competitive Las Vegas market. That success will lead to increased sales and visibility not only here in Las Vegas, but nationally and globally because of the exposure to the 50 million plus visitors annually.
Subsequently the value of winning a medal in the competition is highly respected and valuable in the industry and can be leveraged multiple ways both in B2B and B2C arenas. As Founder and Executive Director, I lean heavily on my two Chairman of the Judges Panels to continually add highly qualified judges every year. Between them, Tim McDonald (Wine) and Steve Beal (Spirits), they have over 90 years industry experience and have judged hundreds of competitions around the world. Their circles of influence and professional relationships are ever expanding and provide a constant flow of highly qualified judges for the Las Vegas Global Wine and Spirit Awards. Q: How are the entries – whether they be in the wine category or the spirits category – judged. ER: The judging process, itself, is conducted as a 100% double blind tasting process from the early rounds all the way through the sweepstakes rounds. As each entry is received, it is catalogued in our system and put into its most appropriate sub-category. During the preliminary rounds of the competition, all the wines and spirits in their respective and specific sub-categories are sampled together as flights, carefully evaluated from appearance to smell, color to finish, and scored by panels of our judges in flights of like categories. Important to note is that the entries are judged individually, on their own merits, NOT against each other. Then, scores for each spirit are tallied. The few entries that have the distinguished honor of being scored the highest by the panels in the preliminary rounds move on to our sweepstakes round. On the final afternoon of the competition, those exceptional entries are all re-tasted by the entire panel of judges who then vote and award the most highly sought after “Best Of” Category and Show Awards. Q: Last year, during the pandemic, you had to adjust your events to maintain safety protocols, yet you were still able to maintain the high level of quality of the overall competition. What changes did you have to make and will many of those changes remain for the 2021 competition? ER: The 2020 competitions certainly presented an entirely new and different set of challenges when it came to setting up the comfort and safety for the judges and volunteers. In addition to the requirements set forth by the State of Nevada, Clark County and the City of Las Vegas, I added a significant number of additional health and safety protocols beginning with temperature checks for everyone upon arrival to the competition area and upon returning from any off-premise activity. Some of the other protocols included volunteers that interacted with the judges always wore face shields masks and gloves and changed gloves after every evolution with the judges. Prep area volunteers changed gloves after every evolution. Judges were provided with both face shields and masks for their comfort and safety and were distanced more than the mandated six feet. The key takeaway from all the additional protocols implemented for the 2020 Las Vegas Global Wine and Spirit Awards that none of the judges or volunteers ever conveyed to me any concern for their safety during the three days of the competition and no positive tests occurred because of doing the competition in person.
Second, the visual appearance of the Stolzle glassware is just stunning. I know, most people will say a wine glass is a wine glass. But for me as a competition owner, and someone who must be keen on how things will look when photographed, the Stolzle glassware exceeds expectation. Our post show publicity has worldwide reach and the glassware must look the part. The nosing glass we selected for the Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards is so incredibly elegant and unlike anything used in any other competition around the world. In the world of wine and spirit competitions where even the smallest details matter significantly, having the highest quality glassware from Stolzle makes a huge difference. Q: What are the dates of this year’s competition and how can people find out more information about the Las Vegas Global Wine & Spirits Awards?
ER: Here are the dates and individual websites for each event: The 2021 Las Vegas Global Wine Awards will take place August 9 – 11. Information can be found at www.VegasWineAwards.com The 2021 Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards will take place September 13 -15. Information can be found at www.VegasSpiritAwards.com  Not quite available in the U.S. just yet - after all, the very best things take time - our newest cocktail glasses, SWING and TWIST are headed to a cocktail near you soon.
Inspired by the exuberance of the 1920s, SWING and TWIST – are our modern interpretation of the classic Champagne Saucers. The cubic shape of the goblet gently merges with the high, filigree pulled stem – a technique that our talented factory artisans are specialized in. Thanks to this technical skill, the Champagne Saucers have neither a joint between stem and bowl nor seam lines, with characteristics similar to handmade glasses. They give a very sensual feeling, lie very pleasant in the hand and have a high breakage resistance. Thus, the large SWING and the smaller TWIST captivate with their delicacy and elegance, which stands in charming contrast to the voluminous opulence of the bowls. Made of lead free crystal glass, the Champagne Saucers also impress with a thin rim. Not only sparkling wine or champagne, but also cocktails are shown off to their best advantage in SWING and TWIST. As is customary for all our glasses, SWING and TWIST have a certificated dishwasher resistance and an ideal price/quality ratio. Now, with America opening up its restaurants and bars, you have even more to look forward to. Our new SWING and TWIST - coming to a cocktail near you soon.  Often, we think everyone knows exactly who we are and how our great glassware products are made. And, then, every once in a while we get reminded that there are many people who are still learning of who the Stolzle brand really is and what we really stand for. First of all and at our most basic level, we are a German glassware brand and we can trace our roots back more than 130+ years. We produce lead-free crystal glass in Germany, deliver more than 40 million glasses per year, including a great variety of stemware ranges, several tumbler ranges and some decanter, jug and carafe ranges, to both retail and hospitality. We are also one of the few glass manufacturers in the world that have mastered the manufacturing process to produce a one-piece stem and bowl (pulled stem). The result are machine-made wine glasses with the features and elegance of mouth-blown glassware. The Stolzle brand is widely known for innovation and quality, delivering glasses with a clear sound, a thin rim, brilliant clarity in 100 per cent lead-free glass that is durable and dishwasher-resistant. Some 80 per cent of our glassware range is exported globally, with large export markets including the US, UK, Southeast Asia, Central Europe and Australia. The Stolzle brand’s customer base includes retail, wholesale and hospitality, with Germany the main retail audience. Hospitality is our largest export market, including restaurants, hotels, catering, airlines and vintners, with such renowned clients including Marriott Hotels and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. In addition to a wide range of standard products, we also offer customization on every item, including techniques like sandblasting and silk-screen printing, and works with customers to create bespoke shapes. But, Stolzle is much more than simply a factory that produces great, hi-performance glassware. We are a company that believes in providing products that helps improve the human connection that we all seek with others. Rather than simply sell glassware, we like to think that we sell smiles, as well. Happy people enjoying life just a little bit better because of the overall quality, the attention to detail and the performance that all of that means to all who use our products. In addition, at Stolzle, we want our products to be thought of as approachable. Meaning that if your preference is higher-end, more premium wines and spirits, we have many great options for you in stemware, barware and accessories. If you prefer a more casual level of beverage experience, we have glassware for you that still delivers a great experience while retaining a more practical, everyday level of performance. And, finally, at so many levels, the Stolzle brand is about people. First of all, we are all about the people who enjoy our products, that is for sure. But also, we are also all about the very talented artisans in Weiswasser, Germany who create our products and help us continue our great legacy of quality and performance. Then, there is the wide variety of global partners and employees who help us get the products to our customers all around the world. Our relationships with these global partners are critical to making sure that the Stolzle brand stays close to its customer base and always listens to what those customers have to say. So, while it’s true that our factories have been producing great, hi-performance glassware for more than 130 years. But please know that, at Stolzle, there’s so much more to us than great glassware! #BornInFire #StolzleForLife
 We always love it when others recognize the significance of the world’s favorite #whisky glass – the Glencairn Glass. We are very proud to be associated with the team at Glencairn Crystal and consider this particular glass to be what all lovers of both #whisky and #whiskey should have in their collection. And for bar owners, they always show their guests just how much they respect the whisky spirit when they serve it properly in the Glencairn Glass.
Great job by Whisky Magazine in the profile of this truly unique glass and how it came to be: https://whiskymag.com/story/a-glass-for-all-whisky  Congratulations once again to our sister company Stoelzle Glass Group, as their Polish production site Stoelzle Czestochowa became the first location of the Glass Group to receive certification in accordance with the international standard ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety.
“The ISO 45001 standard, in particular, relates to what is part of the company’s DNA – safety. Gaining this certification has definitely been a significant milestone in the history of our company. We have worked together over the last few years to achieve this certification and I would like to congratulate and thank our employees very much for the enormous effort and consistency put into obtaining it,” confirms Artur Woloszyn, CEO of Stoelzle Czestochowa. For more information, please visit: https://www.stoelzle.com/2021/03/22/stoelzle-successfully-certified-according-to-iso-45001/ |
Jay's PickThis time Jay's pick is just a little bit unusual, so you'll definitely want to hear what Jay has to say on this one! 
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