Claus Josef Riedel

Claus Riedel was born in 1925 in Polaun, now part of Kořenov, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). He served in the German army in Italy during World War II. After the war he worked briefly at Swarowski Crystal and in 1956 bought with his father a bankrupt glassworks in Kufstein, Austria, recreating a tradition originally founded in Bohemia in 1756. C J Riedel was the first to produce wine-specific glasses, recognizing that the shape of the glass affects the taste of the wine.Indeed, after he took control of the family business in 1957, he began experimenting with the shapes of wine glasses, recognizing that a wine could taste significantly different in glasses of various shapes and sizes. His designs, which included the 1958 Burgundy Grand Cru, then the largest wine glass in the world, won the Grand Prix at the Brussels Exposition that year. He was succeeded as president of the company by his son, Georg, in 1994. He died in March 2004, at the age of 79.