Tuesday, July 10, 2012

AERATORS versus DECANTERS by Philip S. Kampe



Wine Aerators versus Decanters  by Philip S. Kampe

For years I have decanted older or larger bodied wines before meals or for that special occasion. The only way to serve a 1961 Lafitte Rothchild was to decant the bottle first.
The time to decant a bottle varies, bottle by bottle. Sometimes a couple of hours of aerating the wine is substantial. At other times, overnight is the best practice. There is a lot of guess work involved, even for the true professional.
Recently, I was a wine judge at the New York Bar Show. During the free time that the judges have, which you need after rating a hundred wines before lunch time, I wandered through the show.
During my short interval, I spotted a booth with an aeration device. It was not a decanter. It was a rather small device named ‘VINTURI’, a new word for my vocabulary.  The founder and CEO Rio Sabadicci assisted me and said the Vinturi will take the true guesswork out of aerating a bottle of wine. The idea made sense to me and stimulated my curiosity.
I know that using a decanter gives wine time to breathe, thus allowing the wine to open up and release its intended flavors and aromas.
Mr. Sabadicci said that the Vinturi aerator is ‘All the taste without the fuss of a decanter’.
I bought into the idea.
I knew I had to experiment with wines on my own and with other skeptics to validate Sabadicci’s claim.. The claim seemed too good to be true.
By the end of the day I was an owner of one of the three Vinturi aeration devices. Mine was specifically made for red wine. Other versions include a white wine aerator and a spirits aerator.
It was time to experiment.
I called a group of my wine friends and explained what I now owned. I said that I would make dinner if each person would bring a bottle of red wine that either needed decanting or a wine that we could judge before and after aeration.
Everyone was agreeable.
Two nights later the event took place in my dining room, which felt like a surgeon’s office before surgery.
The bottles were lined up and the experiment was ready to begin.
We followed the simple instructions from Vinturi. Hold the Vinturi aerator over a glass and pour wine through the top. Vinturi draws in and mixes the proper amount of air for the correct period of time, allowing the wine to breathe correctly.
The results were astounding.
Literally, in minutes, the first experimental bottle of red wine was aromatic and bouquet-driven. Each person had a sample of before and after the Vinturi encounter.
All agreed that the aerated bottle of wine was superior in both flavor and bouquet.
Our experiment continued with other bottles ranging in age from 1970 to 2009. The same result was achieved over and over.
As a result of the experiment, I have acquired the other models, one for white wines and the other for spirits.
The Vinturi is made specifically for wine drinkers and is a necessary device for all wine lovers.
At $39.99 or under, the Vinturi aerator is money well spent.
Visit www.Vinturi.com to learn more.

PHILIP S. KAMPE






























1 comment:

Maria Reveley said...

This would replace the bulky decanter.
If it works, it is a great solution for traveling and tasting wine.

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