Glassware Virtuoso Kurt Zalto Has Quietly Released His Masterpiece Wine Glass

There are certain traditions that happen when a nice bottle of wine is opened. The flick of a wine opener, the swirl of a decanter. Oenophiles ceremoniously pouring wine into their carefully cared for ‘good glasses’: pricey, whisper-thin glasses blown by hand.

Chances are, these glasses were made by Kurt Josef Zalto.

He’s the Austrian glassware prodigy responsible for inventing Zalto’s lithe, singular signature glasses—limited-production, hand-blown glasses coveted by a globe of sommeliers.

But the last few years have been tough for Kurt Zalto. He was pushed out of the company that bears his name. His designs, potentially stolen by a competitor.

Now, Kurt Zalto is ready for his second act, with new designs, a new company, and a story to tell.

Kurt’s family needs little introduction in the glassware world. Their glassware dynasty goes back six generations, with roots that date back to the Venetian crystal scene.

“I was born with a passion for glass,” he explains. “As a 4-year-old boy, I was in and out of my father’s studio. The heat of the fire, the red-hot glasses from the wooden forms and the concentrate, precise craftsmanship has always fascinated me.”

Just like his father and grandfather, Kurt grew up in the Zalto studios in Neunagelberg, carefully learning the craft. “Our Zalto glass family tradition goes back well into the 18th century to Veneto, Italy. In 1770, my ancestors emigrated to Austria. I learned the art of glass from my father and later refined it at the glass school in Kramsach and at the Nachtmann company in Germany.”