The Riedel Wine Glass Company is an Austrian firm that began making handblown crystal in 1756. Beginning in the 1950s, it began making wineglasses that are designed to enhance enjoyment of specific styles of wines. As an example, the size, shape and thickness of the bowl, stem and base made for enjoying a red Bordeaux is different from the wineglass made for enjoying a white Burgundy. The concept has been expanded so much that the company now makes different wineglasses according to the grape species used to make the wine. It even makes two different wineglasses for enjoying a particular wine made in two different styles, such as a shiraz made in the old world and new world styles. Its catalog now includes a stemless glass designed to enjoy -- you may never have guessed this -- a Coca Cola (tm). Are beer mugs next?
Personally, I've never bought into the concept that a wine glass has to be so specifically designed to enjoy a particular wine but some people swear by it. If you agree with the Riedel concept, you better be prepared to pay a lot because I know of no other brand that is so expensive. Indeed, many of their wine glasses cost over USD $100 per glass and that's for a plain, fully transparent glass that has no decorative ornamentation of any kind.
This wine glass was given to me as a promotional item at a public wine event, though I don't remember what it was. (EDIT: My wife explained that it was actually given to her by her employer because they understandably had no use for it.) The glass is very small, though I realize you can't determine that from the image. I kept it because I wanted to photograph the famous brand.
Setup
The camera, not the wineglass, is tilted. The background is black velvet, though even if it had been a white card the results would have been the same. A diffuser much larger than the background is immediately behind it. A small continuous-light lamp shining from behind the diffuser and background toward the subject and camera outlines the shape of the glass in bright tones. A flash light on the left lights the label. A white reflector on the right side held at a 45-degree angle to the wineglass creates the reflection on that side. Moving the reflector throughout the exposure creates the gradient on the top left side of the reflection.