Search results
National Geographic follows Martin Riese, who is part of a very small pool of sommeliers who have made a profession out of tasting and judging water. Buzzfeed found me some water lovers and I found them some 15,000 year old iceberg water.
Martin Riese, born in 1976, grew up in Aventoft and began his renowned career in his native Germany. Today, he is a Water Tasting Educator, Water Advocate, acclaimed author, Water Sommelier and the world's foremost expert on water.
Martin Riese stands as a global authority in the realm of water, renowned as the world's foremost water sommelier. With an illustrious career spanning decades, Martin has dedicated himself to elevating water appreciation to an art form, captivating audiences worldwide with his profound knowledge and passion for this essential element.
- Overview
- Explore authentic food cultures around the world
Martin Riese believes water is the most important beverage on the planet, and he's urging consumers to rethink the value of this precious resource.
11:29
Martin Riese doesn’t sip water—he slurps it. But only after swirling it around in stemmed glassware, sniffing it, and examining it with his every sense. If the liquid in his glass were another shade, any shade at all, onlookers might guess he’s a trained sommelier tasting wine—and they’d be half right. Riese is a water sommelier.
“When I started this whole water concept in 2012, everybody said, ‘Only in L.A. there is a water sommelier,’” says Riese, who received his certification from the German Mineral Water Trade Association. “And then I said to the people, ‘Only in L.A. do people think water has no value, but they’re living in the desert.’”
It’s an idea easy to laugh at (and many have made Riese the butt of their jokes), but as natural resources dry up globally and the bottled-water industry booms to the tune of a projected $280 billion by 2020, water experts—be they sommeliers or scientists—skilled at detecting water quality and taste may prove an asset. (Here are six plastic-free ways to travel with safe drinking water.)
Water elevated: That’s Riese’s motivator, for the masses to ascribe value to what he calls the “most important beverage on this planet.” To that end, Riese introduced a water menu with dozens of options to Ray’s and Stark Bar in Los Angeles in 2013, and later a two-hour, $50 water tasting at Patina, the restaurant inside the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall. This hefty price-tag, comparable to a wine tasting, urges consumers to rethink the value of a precious resource that many of us take for granted. It’s the old Picasso maxim at work: With education comes appreciation. And Riese is nothing short of exuberant when it comes to our most fundamental life source. (Learn more about the world's clean water crisis.)
1 / 27
1 / 27
The central market of Huaraz, Peru , is busy each morning with vendors crowded in and around the building. Baravelli found his way to this bread-seller by following his nose.
The central market of Huaraz, Peru, is busy each morning with vendors crowded in and around the building. Baravelli found his way to this bread-seller by following his nose.
Photograph by Diego Baravelli, National Geographic Your Shot
To begin to appreciate water in this way, you have to first accept that it does in fact have a taste, however subtle. Minerals like potassium and calcium lend water its flavor and are measured by a standard called TDS, or total dissolved solids. Think of TDS as a water’s natural terroir, the unique and defining characteristics it picks up as it flows from the source, not unlike the climatic relationship in wine grape profiles. According to the Fine Water Society, vintage also influences flavor, because it dictates the amount of time water has to absorb the minerals, yielding light, young waters and more robust, older ones.
- Hannah Lott-Schwartz
- 11 min
Jul 16, 2023 · Water sommelier Martin Riese says not all water tastes the same and that he's an advocate for making sure people have clean water.
Jul 14, 2020 · In the new travel Netflix docuseries Down to Earth, Zac Efron met Water Sommelier Martin Riese and here is what you need to know about the man.
People also ask
Who is Martin Riese?
Does Martin Riese taste water?
Who is Paul Riese?
Does Martin Riese have a podcast?
Oct 3, 2016 · Martin Riese is a water sommelier—part of a very tiny pool of professionals who make a living from tasting water. “Water is not just water,” he claims in the short documentary, The Water...
