Hans Denk

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.

Early life
Denk grew up as the son of a farmer in Niedergrünbach in the Waldviertel region of Austria. 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.

Denk became known nationwide as a wine expert and was regarded as the most influential figure in Austrian wine. He earned the nickname "wine priest" thanks to his extremely fine sensory skills: he achieved an astonishingly high hit rate in blind tastings (without a visible label). Particularly with regard to wines from the Wachau region, he often recognized not only the grape variety, vintage and winemaker during such tastings, but also the location.

After a fall, Denk was confined to a wheelchair and spent the last years of his life in the Haus St. Elisabeth nursing home on the outskirts of St. Pölten. He died on 21 April 2019 after a short, serious illness. His grave is in the cemetery in Albrechtsberg.

Development and success of the Zalto-Denk'Art wine glasses
In 2001, Hans Denk launched a project to develop a sensory-optimized wine glass series. 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, the British wine critic Jancis Robinson, the New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov, the British wine expert Andrew Jefford 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.

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.