# Using a red wine aerator?



## TommyDawg (Jan 6, 2008)

Anyone using one of those red wine aerators? Do you recommend a certain brand? Vinturi, Respirer, Metrokane? It looks like Metrokane fits into the bottle, while the others appear that you have to hold them or put on a stand? I guess a little explanation of how they work would help me too. Much appreciated...

Tom


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## chamjoe (Oct 26, 2009)

This thing is about as effective as a shamwow. All hype and does not perform as advertised. Think of a funnel with holes in it which adds air while you are pouring and yes wine can come out of the holes. I have the Venturi and it does nothing to the taste of the tine. Save your $30 and get a bottle of wine (or a decanter if you don't have one already).


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## Starch (Jun 28, 2010)

Some time ago (a couple of years), when it first came out, I was part of a group of people who did a blind taste test on the Vinturi. Every single person could taste a difference.

I've only ever used the Vinturi, so I can't compare it to others. It's a fairly simple device: it's just a cup that narrows down to an opening in the bottom, along with strategically placed air holes, so as to draw air forcibly through the wine as it's poured. I'd imagine all three versions probably work about as well ... it's not rocket science (well, not quite, anyway).


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## Hanzo (Sep 9, 2009)

I spent several years working for the largest online beverage hardware company, so I feel that I can speak to this intelligently.

Aerators absolutley make a difference. Wine oxygenates, which changes the flavor. The entire purpose of using a decantar is to allow the wine to have more surface area in order to oxygenate faster. An aerator works on the same principle. You are introducing air into the wine by way of turbulence. Although they don't work as well as a decantar, they definitely work.


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

The ones I've seen add a touch of ceremony to the process I appreciate, though I'm not

exactly a wine-guy.

I also like my caesar salad prepared tableside, that kind of thing...


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## blairrob (Oct 30, 2010)

Hanzo said:


> I spent several years working for the largest online beverage hardware company, so I feel that I can speak to this intelligently.
> 
> Aerators absolutley make a difference. Wine oxygenates, which changes the flavor. _*The entire purpose of using a decantar*_ is to allow the wine to have more surface area in order to oxygenate faster. An aerator works on the same principle. You are introducing air into the wine by way of turbulence. Although they don't work as well as a decantar, they definitely work.


I have spent several years as a wine importer and wine store manager _(really, is that supposed to matter?!? I mean so I feel I can also speak intelligently toward this issue)_ and can advise a decanter for those with any sort of a decent cellar is used to prevent sediment transference from the bottom of the bottle to the glass.

Oxygenate if you must, better to start a small cellar and let the wine age properly; that is why fine wines are bottled with natural cork closures.


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## TommyDawg (Jan 6, 2008)

blairrob said:


> I have spent several years as a wine importer and wine store manager _(really, is that supposed to matter?!? I mean so I feel I can also speak intelligently toward this issue)_ and can advise a decanter for those with any sort of a decent cellar is used to prevent sediment transference from the bottom of the bottle to the glass.
> 
> Oxygenate if you must, better to start a small cellar and let the wine age properly; that is why fine wines are bottled with natural cork closures.


 Sorry, but I dont follow the thought here. Letting a wine age properly in a cellar has nothing to do with the need or lack of aerating. Even the best wines stored in the best cellar are better aerated, whether in a decanter or a device. Also not sure of the need to assert your opinion at the expense of another member. I'm just trying to have some conversation about wine tools...


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## blairrob (Oct 30, 2010)

TommyDawg said:


> Sorry, but I dont follow the thought here. Letting a wine age properly in a cellar has nothing to do with the need or lack of aerating. Even the best wines stored in the best cellar are better aerated, whether in a decanter or a device. Also not sure of the need to assert your opinion at the expense of another member. I'm just trying to have some conversation about wine tools...


Tommy, when somebody makes a statement such as "absolutely they will make a difference" when in fact, it is _not_ accepted as fact by many if not most folks then my dander gets up. They stated an opinion but presented it as fact and thus it was appropriate for me to call it out. I apologize for my tone being harsh but not for the correction. It might be worth noting that someone who works or worked selling a product would want to believe or was led to believe that same worked as advertised.

I would also add that aging wine in a cellar is directly related to decanting. The aging process allows the wine to interact with the small amount of oxygen in the bottle, influencing the chemical process that helps wine mature gracefully. A natural cork allows additional minute amounts of oxygen into the bottle over time to supplement the aging. Once fully aged, most fine wines (IMO) will not benefit from further aeration such as decanting, and in fact, some will deteriorate with such as their nose goes off. The 'to decant or not' discussion is an ongoing argument with experts on both sides; The French (and Hugh Johnson) on mine, the English on the other. Regardless, the longer a wine has been cellared (in relation to it's optimal cellaring period) the less aeration or micro-oxygenation will be required.

Again, my apologies for getting my dander up.

Blair


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## TommyDawg (Jan 6, 2008)

Fair enough. I find the further information about aging to be quite interesting. Appreciate the additional details on the issue. Thanks...
TD


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## blairrob (Oct 30, 2010)

TommyDawg said:


> Fair enough. I find the further information about aging to be quite interesting. Appreciate the additional details on the issue. Thanks...
> TD


You're very welcome. I will try to be a little less earnest in the future.


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## Starch (Jun 28, 2010)

A few random thoughts, generally off topic:

A wine that's been aged a long time kind of cries out to be decanted in order to deal with the sediment. I suppose it's not out-and-out _necessary_, but you need to handle the bottle pretty carefully if you don't decant it.

The typical wines that most of us drink on a daily basis don't ordinarily have any sediment. By "most of us," I'm intentionally not referring to _all_ of us (whoever us may be), but only to the ones who drink wine - a good amount of it white - pretty often and don't devote a 5-figure annual budget line to it.

Just the process of pouring into a decanter will aerate wine a fair amount. Sitting in the decanter does as well (a little, anyway), since the typical decanter is shaped so the surface of the wine in it is pretty large (unlike in an open, unpoured bottle).

Depending how you sip your wine, you may also aerate it in the process of drinking it.

A complete aside, but on the cork thing: as a friend of mine found out when - in a restaurant known for its snazzy wine list - he humorously asked for "your best wine with a screwtop" and was told that it would run $450 a bottle, fine wines don't necessarily have corks. I have it on good authority from the people who make the stuff that they'd rather put screwtops on all their wine (they work just as well most of the time, and better some of the time), but consumers associate them with Ripple and the like. There are, apparently, some who think wine ages differently with a cork, though the better view seems to be to the contrary (except when wine ages _badly_ with a cork, which happens to something like 5-10% of the bottles).


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## blairrob (Oct 30, 2010)

Starch said:


> Depending how you sip your wine, you may also aerate it in the process of drinking it.


Nice post. As you say, even pouring wine into a glass aerates it, as does the time it spends sitting in your glass exposed to the air.



Starch said:


> A complete aside, but on the cork thing: as a friend of mine found out when - in a restaurant known for its snazzy wine list - he humorously asked for "your best wine with a screwtop" and was told that it would run $450 a bottle, fine wines don't necessarily have corks. I have it on good authority from the people who make the stuff that they'd rather put screwtops on all their wine (they work just as well most of the time, and better some of the time), but consumers associate them with Ripple and the like. There are, apparently, some who think wine ages differently with a cork, though the better view seems to be to the contrary (except when wine ages _badly_ with a cork, which happens to something like 5-10% of the bottles).


As a wine importer and retailer I have talked to hundreds of producers from Australia, Europe, and both Americas, as well as regularly chatted with wine writers and restaurant professionals and attended the major wine fairs, but I have yet to hear one higher end producer of complex reds suggest they prefer screwcaps; rather often, however I hear them bemoaning the scarcity of good quality cork and the bottle variation poor cork will inevitably produce.
It is true, however that the fashion for softer fruit forward wines in North America has driven many producers worldwide towards the production of these less complex wines, and as these wines come out of the barrel or vat with very little tannin (or acidity with whites) bottle aging will do little (or at least much less) to improve them. Here then, the screw cap has the advantages of being cheaper and ensuring reduced bottle variation with little loss of the balance aging imparts into more structured wines. IMO, this does result in less attractive wine than had it been made the traditional way and corked naturally before cellaring. America's Robert Parker Jr. disagrees, England's Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson completely agree. If the 3 best selling wine writers in the world disagree, it's unlikely we will here either.

There is one thing I can say with impunity; Mondo Vino is a wonderful American made documentary on the 'business' of wine that is, amazingly, a wonderfully entertaining and enlightening film. I highly recommend it.

Blair


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## Hanzo (Sep 9, 2009)

blairrob said:


> Tommy, when somebody makes a statement such as "absolutely they will make a difference" when in fact, it is _not_ accepted as fact by many if not most folks then my dander gets up. They stated an opinion but presented it as fact and thus it was appropriate for me to call it out. I apologize for my tone being harsh but not for the correction. It might be worth noting that someone who works or worked selling a product would want to believe or was led to believe that same worked as advertised.
> 
> I would also add that aging wine in a cellar is directly related to decanting. The aging process allows the wine to interact with the small amount of oxygen in the bottle, influencing the chemical process that helps wine mature gracefully. A natural cork allows additional minute amounts of oxygen into the bottle over time to supplement the aging. Once fully aged, most fine wines (IMO) will not benefit from further aeration such as decanting, and in fact, some will deteriorate with such as their nose goes off. The 'to decant or not' discussion is an ongoing argument with experts on both sides; The French (and Hugh Johnson) on mine, the English on the other. Regardless, the longer a wine has been cellared (in relation to it's optimal cellaring period) the less aeration or micro-oxygenation will be required.
> 
> ...


Let me get this straight...

First, you start by saying that aerating the wine doesn't make a difference and that it is my "opinion", then you go on to state that the small amount of air in the bottle interacts with wine during the aging process and therefore influences the chemical structure.

So, which is it? Does air interacting with wine affect the wine or not?

Let me restate what I said before, it is FACT that oxygen interacting with wine makes a difference, whether it is done over years or quickly (and yes, rather crudely) with a young bottle of wine by way of an aerator or somewhere in the middle during decanting, air DOES have an effect.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way...the purpose of decanting, by definition, is to pour the wine out of the bottle, hopefully leaving the setiment behind, this is true. But the purpose of modern decantars and their shape is to introduce as much surface area as possible to the wine. If that were not the case, decantars would not have their distinctive shape.

If you wish to refute me, do so as a gentlemen rather than letting your emotions get to you on a subject as silly as wine.


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## blairrob (Oct 30, 2010)

Hanzo said:


> Let me get this straight...
> 
> First, you start by saying that aerating the wine doesn't make a difference and that it is my "opinion", then you go on to state that the small amount of air in the bottle interacts with wine during the aging process and therefore influences the chemical structure.
> 
> So, which is it? Does air interacting with wine affect the wine or not?


 Well, it's both really. Short term aeration (of the decanting or aerator type) will not soften the tannins of a wine, be they young or old, integrated or not; tannins are only softened by the aeration of wine over longer periods of time (which I will call oxygenation for this thread).



Hanzo said:


> Let me restate what I said before, it is FACT that oxygen interacting with wine makes a difference, whether it is done over years or quickly (and yes, rather crudely) with a young bottle of wine by way of an aerator or somewhere in the middle during decanting, air DOES have an effect.


 OK, OK, I will agree. Aeration and oxygenation both affect wine; only the latter however, will soften the tannins. The aeration effects from decanting or using an aerator relate to different chemical reactions and differing effects on the wine. On an aged wine this aerations effect may well be to render the wines bouquet undetectable.



Hanzo said:


> Now that we've gotten that out of the way...the purpose of decanting, by definition, is to pour the wine out of the bottle, hopefully leaving the setiment behind, this is true. But the purpose of modern decantars and their shape is to introduce as much surface area as possible to the wine. If that were not the case, decantars would not have their distinctive shape.


Wine decanters take many different shapes actually, but I am assuming you are referring to the barrel bottom style which clearly is designed to aerate wines, but to which the jury is still split as to the effectiveness of. Few wine aficionados I am aware of would use such a decanter; most would still prefer a 3 ring or club styled decanter in lieu of the wide bottom.



Hanzo said:


> If you wish to refute me, do so as a gentlemen rather than letting your emotions get to you on a subject as silly as wine.


I would, however unlike in your country where their use still seems to be tolerated to a disturbing degree if not outright promoted, in our country dueling pistols are now quite frowned upon. 
I have apologized several times however I also realize I have thereafter ante-ed up again. I am passionate and serious about wine and do become frustrated when unknowledgeable or semi-knowledgeable Poseurs try to impress others with their oenological expertise when they really don't care about wine, whereupon my tail feathers ruffle and sometimes turn into porcupine quills. I don't see you in that crowd and in fact respect and appreciate your (and others here as well) interest and intelligence to this subject.

I think we need some humour here. This is beginning to feel like the scantily clad undie models thread.





Regards, Blair


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## Hanzo (Sep 9, 2009)

blairrob said:


> Well, it's both really. Short term aeration (of the decanting or aerator type) will not soften the tannins of a wine, be they young or old, integrated or not; tannins are only softened by the aeration of wine over longer periods of time (which I will call oxygenation for this thread).
> 
> OK, OK, I will agree. Aeration and oxygenation both affect wine; only the latter however, will soften the tannins. The aeration effects from decanting or using an aerator relate to different chemical reactions and differing effects on the wine. On an aged wine this aerations effect may well be to render the wines bouquet undetectable.
> 
> ...


Hahaha, well put, sir.

And, with that behind us, lets go have a drink!


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