The year was 2014. Christmas was fast approaching, and mates Denver Cramer and Liely Faulkner couldn’t face the prospect of shopping-centre madness. The solution? To use their industrial design and mechanical engineering smarts to create the ultimate whisky glass as a gift for family and friends. “We’d like that, so why wouldn’t they?” they thought.
Christmas was saved, and Denver & Liely was born: spirit-specific glassware dedicated to creating the most accurate taste and smell profile possible.
Denver & Liely’s Whisky Glass developed a cult following worldwide, and now, nearly 10 years on, they’re back with a wine glass that decants your favourite juice as you drink it. Here’s how it works, according to Denver Cramer.
Give us the elevator pitch, what makes this wine glass different and/or special?
It’s the most user-controlled wine-drinking experience out there. That’s it. The game-changing feature of the Denver & Liely Wine Glass is its directional fins, which extend radially and directionally from the centre of the glass. The design is inspired by the shape and function of a turbine engine and stimulates aeration through two-stage agitation. If you swirl anti-clockwise, it’s high aeration, and clockwise is for fine-tuning, or softer aeration.
It’s also shaped to decant within the glass. Instead of pouring into a decanter and waiting an hour or even two, the Wine Glass does this with a playful flick of the wrist. The lotus shape of the glass draws air in, and the raised hub in the centre means the wine enters the glass more gently – great for more delicate older wines.
The Wine Glass’s design features mean it can open up wines far quicker than a traditional wine glass, and gives a wider variety of wines the opportunity to reach their potential.
Who are you and what are you all about?
I’m a practical, technical guy with a passion for refined drinking experiences, travel and great stories. I live on the move, I like meeting people and love well-made things. Craftmanship runs in my veins.
We recently launched the Denver & Liely Wine Glass, and I’m pretty amped. The design has been ticking away in the back of my mind for about eight years. A few years ago, all the concepts finally came together to reach critical mass in my head, but the complexity of the design meant that it took manufacturing some time to catch up and be able to execute it.
Part of our process also includes stringent product testing with leading producers and industry experts all over the world so they can objectively tell us how their product should taste and smell. For the Wine Glass, we consulted with the team from Penfolds and leading wine houses in France, including Château Pichon Baron and Château Guadet.
Explain like we’re five: how do you make it?
Our Wine Glass is hand-blown and hand-cut from lead-free crystal. Although it may seem simple, the process of hand-blowing the glass into its unique shape is extremely technical. The base of the stem to the lip of the glass is forged with one single piece of crystal. Art and science embodied.
The Wine Glass accelerates the aeration process and allows for far more control than a traditional decanter. It has two levels of aeration and it self-decants without you having to do anything.
We’ve done all the work – you just pour it. It’s the difference between hearing a solo piano or a whole orchestra.
Does it really age the wine by four or five years? How?
Only time can age a wine, but some of the experts who consulted on the Wine Glass have said that it can emulate the effect of ageing a wine by up to four or five years through high aeration, which accelerates the softening and integration of tannins and opens up a wine much quicker.
What excites you about this project?
I just thought drinking wine could be done better. It took a long time to get there, and that’s what made it such an epic journey. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
I got to meet a lot of great people, hear some great stories, taste some great wine and share my passion for wine with others who have been in the industry for generations. Once something grabs me, I want to know everything, and to really understand why things are done the way they’ve been done.
I recently bought a farm and have been learning about permaculture and developing my own vineyard to get a better understanding of the winemaking process. It’s been challenging but so damn educational. There are so many variables and factors that combine to create wine, to drink wine and, inevitably, to love wine.
Developing the glass drew my attention to all the similarities between winemaking and what I do professionally. It’s about striking a balance between all the technical stuff – the science of what happens during maceration, or how air moves in a space – and the feel, or even the spirit of an object and what makes it a beautiful consumer experience. A lot of the time, happily, those things line up perfectly. And that makes for good wine, good times and great design.
Is this here for a good time or a long time?
Here for a long time, always. And a good time, too. I’m stoked to see the glass out in the world at last. It’s been an amazing journey; lots of great, slightly wine-addled memories made with people who are the best in the world at what they do. I’ll toast to that any day.
The first run is limited to 5,000, but I’ll have more glasses for your drinking pleasure very soon.
Where can I buy it?
It’s available exclusively from denverandliely.com for now.
Keep up to speed on Denver & Liely news and products on Instagram at @denverandliely, and at denverandliely.com