Riedel Extreme Glasses
A diamond-cut bowl built for wines that hit hard on fruit and alcohol.
Check price on AmazonThe short answer
Riedel Extreme uses a wide, diamond-cut bowl — a different geometry from Riedel's rounder lines — built for bold, fruit-forward New World wines: big Cabernet, Zinfandel, forward Shiraz. It's machine-made and dishwasher safe. If your cellar leans Old World and restrained instead, Vinum or Performance will likely suit you better.
The specs (Cabernet shape)
Height
247 mm
Capacity
800 ml
Bowl shape
Wide, diamond-cut
Material
Machine-made crystal
Why the shape works
Extreme started life in 2000 as "Vinum Extreme," the world's first machine-made diamond-shaped glass collection, before Riedel relaunched it as a standalone line in 2018. The diamond-cut bowl is a genuinely different geometry from the rounded bowls used across Vinum, Veritas and Performance — wider, with more facets, built to give big, ripe, high-alcohol wines room to show their fruit without feeling flat or overheated.
It's a shape built with New World winemaking in mind: wines that lead with ripe fruit and noticeable alcohol rather than the tannin-and-acid structure that Old World bowls like Vinum's Bordeaux shape are tuned for. Being machine-made, it's also dishwasher safe.
Best wines for Riedel Extreme
- New World Cabernet Sauvignon
- Zinfandel & other high-alcohol reds
- Bold, fruit-forward Shiraz
- New World / off-dry Riesling
- Big, oaky New World Chardonnay
- Wines you find too shy in a standard bowl
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Riedel Extreme — FAQ
What is Riedel Extreme for?
Extreme is built for bold, fruit-forward wines — especially New World reds like Cabernet and Zinfandel that hit hard on ripeness and alcohol. Its diamond-cut bowl is a genuinely different geometry from Riedel's rounder Vinum and Veritas shapes, aimed at wines that need room to show off rather than restraint.
What's the difference between Riedel Extreme and Vinum?
Vinum's bowls are rounded and tapered, built around classic Old World structure. Extreme's bowl is wider and diamond-cut, with a bigger opening — designed specifically for forward, high-alcohol, fruit-driven wines rather than restrained, acid-and-tannin-led styles.
Is Riedel Extreme dishwasher safe?
Yes. Like the rest of Riedel's machine-made lines, Extreme is dishwasher safe.
Is a bigger glass always better for big wines?
Not automatically — a bowl that's too large for a wine can let aromatics dissipate before you get to them. Extreme's size is paired with its diamond-cut shape specifically to concentrate a big wine's aromatics despite the larger capacity, which is the point of the design rather than size for its own sake.
Have you personally tested Riedel Extreme?
Not yet — this page covers what the line is designed to do, based on Riedel's own published specs, not a hands-on tasting review. We only publish first-person verdicts on glassware we've actually used at length.