So you finally received that new shipment of Cabernet
Sauvignon from your favorite winery. 2010. You’ve been waiting a half year for
the shipment to arrive and now that it’s in your hands, you want to sample it
right now. Or cellar it to let it age. But since we can never tell what the
future holds, instant gratification triumphs. But since it’s a very young wine,
you need to decant it right? Pour it into a carafe and let it breathe over
several hours right? Hmm, several hours isn’t really instant gratification. You
could sample it right from the bottle but it may be a little “closed” in which
case that $50 price tag seems like a waste. But you don’t want to wait several
hours. What do you do?
What about accelerated aeration? Using a device that
quickly aerates the wine thus opening up flavors that would have remained
hidden or at least muted if the wine was simply sampled straight from the
bottle. Do these devices exist? There actually are quite a few of these on the
market and all claim that they make your glass of wine taste better by speeding
up the oxygenation process. And they’ll only set you back about the cost of a
nice bottle of Cabernet.
The Players
In lieu of having you spend your hard earned dollars
sampling these devices, the Gochiso Gourmet will give you an objective review
of some of these devices. Basically all of these devices aerate your wine to
about the same degree as decanting the wine and letting it sit over the course
of an evening but it’s done immediately without waiting. Why aerate at all?
Oxygenating a young wine helps expose underlying flavor components that either
are hidden of masked by a dominant component like fruit especially in a young
California Cabernet. When the wine is aerated, secondary aromas start to appear
like herbal components or secondary fruit flavors and the increased oxygenation
can also soften some of the hard tannins in young red wines improving the
balance and mouth feel of the wine.
So I assembled a group of wine “toys” that I have in my
collection. To be as objective as possible, I used the same shaped wine glass
(Riedel Zinfandel glass since only about 2 ounces were poured) and poured the
same amount wine with each device. The wine was swirled three times before
sniffing and sipping and compared to the same wine poured straight from the
bottle without the benefit of any aeration device. The wine in question was the
recent release of 2010 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon ($58) – as young as any
Cabernet on the market right now. True objectivity would have necessitated a
blind tasting but that would have required a 2nd person… and the Mrs.
was busy in the kitchen. True professionalism also would have dictated that I
spit the wine between samples so as not to have the alcohol cloud my
evaluation. But I’m not really a professional and I definitely don’t spit $58
wine.
Vinturi $39.95
Probably the most recognized name of all the wine
aeration products on the market today. It’s basically a small acrylic cup
directly draining through a narrow tube. Opposing perpendicular openings
connected to the drain tube suck air into the drain tube creating an exiting
vortex of wine that’s now fully aerated as it drops into your glass. They also
make a travel version of the Vinturi complete with a nifty travel case but the
cup opening is just a little wider than the bottle opening so I’d advise maroon
colored shirts and dark pants when attempting to use the travel version!
Host Tilt Variable Aerator $25
An acrylic pourer that aerates wine to varying degrees
depending on the angle of the bottle. This aerator is placed into the uncorked
bottle and aerates the wine as it’s poured via a single opening that draws air
into the stream of wine. A 30 degree bottle angle mildly aerates the wine, up
to 60 degrees moderately aerates the wine and past 60 degrees fully aerates the
wine.
Soiree $24.99
The simplest design as it’s simply a glass ball that
inserts into the opened wine bottle. Three conical protrusions in the ball
agitate thus aerate the wine that enters the ball.
Trudeau $24.99
Another acrylic pourer that inserts into the uncorked
wine bottle but with two aerating openings and an angled pouring neck so that
only a 15 degree angle is needed to aerate the wine.
Eisch Wine Glass $37.99
I also included a wine glass that supposedly “softens”
the wine due to “some’ chemical reaction with the crystalline structure of the
glass. Supposedly, 2 to 4 minutes spent in the glass has the same effect as 2
to 4 hours in a decanter.
The Verdict
Straight from the bottle
Loads of currant with a touch of vanilla on the nose. An
immediate hit of coarse tannins on the palate then dark fruit finishing a
little hot (alcohol).
Host Tilt Variable Aerator
A mixture of currant and red fruit on the nose. Red fruit
hits the palate first with a noticeable reduction in the alcohol and softer
tannins. It softened the tannins and alcohol the most while letting fruit come
to the forefront.
Soiree
Probably not utilized to its full potential as it seems
the wine bottle needs to be totally inverted for maximum aeration to occur but
I deferred since it had the loosest connection in the bottle and I didn’t want
Cabernet covering my kitchen floor. Not much change compared to no aeration at
all with just a hint of alcohol softening.
Trudeau
It improved the nose the most placing red and black
cherry before currants and still allowed the vanilla notes to remain. It
improved the palate by reducing the alcohol and softening the tannins though
just a touch behind the Host Tilt Variable Aerator.
Vinturi
Similar to the Trudeau but just a point or two behind. It
creates the most “sucking” noise drawing air into the stream of wine but it
does require two hands (or the optional base for double the price) since this
device isn’t inserted into the neck of the bottle.
Eisch
It actually muted the nose where I really had to strain
just to get the currant and fruit notes on the nose. It softened the palate but
also seemed to reduce the fruit flavors too.
Comments