2016 is a year of anniversaries for Riedel. The company is celebrating being in business for 260 years while Vinum – the company’s most successful glassware range – is turning thirty. 1986 was not just an important year for Riedel but for all wine lovers around the world. The launch of the machine-made Vinum glass collection by Riedel Glas fundamentally changed the drinking glass culture. In 1973, Claus J. Riedel, the ninth generation of the family-run company, introduced a winefriendly, handcrafted and hand blown range of glasses. The ‘Sommeliers’ range is now world famous. In 1986, his son, Georg J. Riedel, presented a further innovation which would become even more significant: the first varietal-specific machine-made glass in history – Vinum!