If you are going to serve the special person in your life some champagne or a bottle of delicious wine, you should have a glass to match. And one cannot go better than the glasses made by Riedel Crystal. Gosling’s is the official importer and distributor of Riedel Crystal and prehaps Robert M Parker Jr from The Wine Advocate said it best when he described Riedel’s products as: “The finest glasses for both technical and hedonistic purposes are those made by Riedel. The effect of these glasses on fine wine is profound. I cannot emphasise enough what a difference they make.”Tradition and innovation the Riedel company can proudly look back on its 250-year success story. From its beginnings in northern Bohemia down to this day, for 11 generations (for now) Riedel Glass has stood for the high art of glassmaking.Claus Riedel was the first designer to recognise that the bouquet, taste, balance and finish of wines are affected by the shape of the glass from which they are drunk. He was the first person in the long history of the glass to design its shape according to the character of the wine. He is thus the inventor of the functional wine glass.The glasses are designed to emphasise a wine’s harmony, not faults. Riedel has always viewed the wine glass as an instrument to bring together: the personality of the wine, smell, taste, appearance (including the beauty of the object).The size of a glass is important, affecting the quality and intensity of aromas. The breathing space has to be chosen according to the “personality” of the wine or spirit. Red wines require large glasses, white wines medium-sized glasses and spirits, small ones (to emphasise the fruit character and not the alcohol).You don’t need to be a wine writer, a wine maker or an expert to taste the difference that a Riedel glass can make!For more information go to http://www.riedel.com