Hans Denk (15 May 1942 – 21 April 2019) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and wine expert who became famous for inventing the Denk'Art wine glasses.
Denk grew up as the son of a farmer in Niedergrünbach in the Waldviertel region of Austria.[1] [2] After finishing school, he studied theology and was ordained a priest on 29 June 1965. In 1980, he became pastor in the parish of Albrechtsberg, where he worked until his retirement in 2014.[3]
Denk gained nationwide recognition as a wine expert and was considered one of the most influential figures in Austrian wine. He was nicknamed the "wine priest" due to his exceptional sensory abilities, consistently achieving a remarkably high accuracy in blind tastings. In particular, during tastings of wines from the Wachau region, he frequently identified not only the grape variety, vintage, and winemaker but also the specific vineyard.
Following a fall, Denk became wheelchair-bound and spent his final years at the Haus St. Elisabeth nursing home on the outskirts of St.Pölten. He passed away on 21 April 2019 after a brief, serious illness. He is buried in the cemetery in Albrechtsberg.
In 2001, Hans Denk launched a project to develop a sensory-optimized wine glass series.[4] In 2004, the Zalto-Denk'Art glasses designed as part of this cooperation were launched on the market. The six-piece wine glass series has special features in terms of shape and feel. The curvature between the stem and the widest point corresponds to the angle of inclination of the planet Earth in its orbit around the sun. The mouth-blown and handmade Zalto-Denk'Art wine glasses are particularly light and thin-walled. International wine experts such as the influential US wine critic Robert Parker,[5] the British wine critic Jancis Robinson,[6] the New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov,[7] the British wine expert Andrew Jefford[8] and the German wine journalist and author Jens Priewe are absolutely convinced by the wine glass design. In 2016, the Wall Street Journal named Denk'Art glasses as one of the six design pieces that could not be improved.[9]
In exclusive restaurants such as the Steirereck in Vienna, The Ledbury in London, Astrance in Paris, Park Hyatt in Tokyo and Le Bernadin in New York, wine is only served from these glasses.