`Any other glass just seems a bit clod hopping. Zaltos feel so delicate that you feel at one with the wine` - Jancis Robinson

`my current favourite glasses have taken me into a whole new territory of sensual pleasure. Zalto glasses…are hand-blown, do not contain lead oxide so do not get cloudy, and combine an angular bowl shape with the thinnest glass I have yet come across.` - Jancis Robinson

Though distribution in the UK has been patchy at best some of us have been using Zaltos at home for a while. These glasses are made by a small family concern who acquired the Zalto brand in 2006, with the idea of providing affordable perfection in top quality wine stemware. The design is a fusion of ancient Roman drink containers and the experience of priest and wine academic Hans Denk.

What are the differences between Zalto and other glasses? From a practical point of view, these are glasses designed to go in the dishwasher, so are lead free crystal. In fact it is better and safer to put them in the machine than wash them by hand. They are also blown differently to other Austrian glasses, with the bowl and stem formed as one piece, then the foot attached. A more usual arrangement is for the stem to be glued to the bowl. Remember the attachment point is the weakest.

What are you going to notice when you first pick up a Zalto? How light it is, then how thin it is. So how does it not just crunch into pieces when you pick it up? Without getting too technical another thing that separates Zalto from other glassmakers is the cooling period for the glasses. Most glassware is thick enough to need but twelve hours slow cooling through the furnace; Zaltos get twenty four hours and this long additional `cure` hardens the glass much more allowing that delicate feel, which as Jancis says, puts you at one with the wine.