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I always approach wine gadgets with a degree of skepticism. The line between the next best thing that every enthusiast should have and a total cash sapping scheme can be extremely thin. This is why I have made it one of my missions to test this stuff, so in the event of a total scam, we can all invest our money instead in the worthwhile wines that these inventions were made to improve upon. One of these tools that has always interested me is the wine aerator. I am not quite sure how I feel about them and I have often had an internal debate over whether or not to use them when reviewing wines because of their potential to change the true character of the wine. But if one decides that they don’t care about all that and instead they just want an aerator that does what it says it does, then it is a topic that should be investigated.
Now, there have got to be close to a hundred of these things out on the market. Every wines store I visit or website I shop seems to sell a different type with its own unique shape and supposedly revolutionary design. It would be impossible to test every one of these so instead I decided to pick the top two that I have seen most often and compare them side by side using a glass of the same wine. The subjects of our experiment will be the Vinturi Essential Red Wine Aerator and the Menu Selection Decanting Pourer.
To test the validity of the manufacture’s claims I poured three glasses of Rancho Sisquoc Santa Barbara County Cabernet Sauvignon (see Cork’d for review,) one straight from the bottle, and one for each of the aerators. Without revealing too much about the cab that might spoil its review, I thought that the glass poured without an aerator (the wine in its truest form) was slightly disjointed, with its fruit a little dull and dry and its alcohol (15.1%) showing through in its otherwise light finish. Aromatically it was intriguing and on the palate it showed less complexity but still enough to keep my interest.
Vinturi Essential Red Wine Aerator
Vinturi is probably the most popular aerator on the market and I have even seen and heard of wineries and tasting rooms that use them when they pour their wines. They explain how it works with a complicated formula that involves the pressure and speed of liquids in motion. In more simple terms, there are two small holes drilled into the center of the thing and they supposedly let in just the right amount of air to perfect a wine. You pour the wine through the aerator, there is a strange slurping noise and the wine splashes into your glass covered with bubbles. This process is supposed to improve aroma, flavor, and create a softer finish.
The first thing I noticed about the glass poured through the Vinturi was how much less I got out of the nose. Not only did it seem to stunt the intensity and complexity, it also seemed to slightly change it’s aroma. It seemed to have the effect that decanting can have on a wine when it has been allowed to sit a while and mellow. In essence, the wine seemed like it had been tamed. On the palate it was much smoother and more rounded, being a thick wine to begin with, it became what I like to call fudgy (really thick and mouth filling.) As good as that may sound , again I found that the complexity had been slightly lessened and while the balance had been improved, the alcohol showed through a bit more strongly. Overall it was like the wine had been Photoshopped, correct, smooth, and pretty but not as true or precise as it should be.
Is It Worth It? Possibly. If you plan on reviewing and analyzing your wine I would be hesitant because the wine you pour and taste with the Vinturi may not in fact be an accurate representation of the wine in the bottle. However, if you are just looking for something to give you a smoother, more balanced wine, I would say yeah, it’s probably worth it, especially if you’re looking for an alternative to a decanter.
Menu Decanting Pourer
The Menu Pourer is much less common, but of those in second place in popularity behind the Vinturi I think I have seen this one the most. It uses a similar concept, except they do not go into an actual formula and the Menu only has one hole, which means there is not as much noise when pouring. And although I only wanted to test these two for effectiveness, I did like that the Menu Pourer is actually inserted into the bottle, so that whether it works as an aerator or not, it still is a very effective non-drip pouring device.
Once again I noticed that there was a slight (and in both cases I do mean slight, but I still feel that for this test to be accurate I should make note of it) decrease in complexity on the nose. Like the wine poured through the Vinturi, I did not think the aroma seemed quite as strong or outgoing as when the wine was poured straight from the bottle. However, it did seem more polished and refined, again, like a wine that has been allowed to mellow in a decanter. It did, however, maintain a bit more strength and complexity than the Vinturi’s wine did. The first sip revealed a very interesting change. The wine was smoother, softer, with the tannins a bit more sweet, and was overall more delicate and creamy than when it had been poured without an aerator. It did not have the incredible thick, roundness that the Vinturi’s wine had, and instead seemed somewhere in between. The alcohol did show through a bit more than it did when pouring through the Vinturi, but the difference was actually pretty minimal. Ultimately, the Menu seemed to perform better. It softened the wine’s edges, toned its texture, and made it more supple without making it overly thick.
Is It Worth It? Definitely. The Menu preserves the wine’s natural character and gives it just the right amount of tuning to create a wine drinking experience that is both true and enjoyable, and at somewhere around half the price of the Vinturi, I would say that it is absolutely worth a try.
Please Leave a Comment:
The Grapevine: Do you use a decanter, aerator, etc.? If so, why and when (all the time, expensive bottles, when you have guests, etc.)?
