I was graciously invited, recently, to an Arizona Wine Growers Association (www.arizonawine.org) meeting at Coronado Vineyards (www.coronadovineyards.com)  in Wilcox after which the entire group was treated to a seminar by George Riedel of Riedel stemware.  If you’re a wine enthusiast, you would have to live in a cave to have not heard of the company and the man.  The origins of the Riedel tradition go back to the late 1600’s where one Johann Christoph Riedel traded luxury glass.  The next generation, Johann Carl Riedel, was a gilder and glasscutter and the rest is, as they say, history.  I was really looking forward to Georg’s presentation.  I have read a bit about his passion and marketing expertise and wanted to see if he lived up the hype.

After the meeting was complete, we adjourned to a room where each table setting included a set of seven glasses.  Georg politely greeted each participant, directing him or her to a vacant seat, his palm upright as he gestured to our chosen location.  It all felt a bit European.

Then with a “shhhhh,” Georg quieted down the crowd and introduced himself, prefaced by “welcome ladies and gentlemen, my name is Georg Riedel.”  From the outset, Georg commanded the utmost attention and respect, as much in words as in affect.  He was almost professorial in his response when one of the attending vintners began to sniff some wine prematurely.  Upon catching wind of the impropriety, Georg politely shook his finger in a no-no-no manner, begging patience until he was ready to issue explicit instructions.  The rest of the crowd laughed, relieved, I’m sure that it was not they who were pointed out.