Gadget Review: Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator

"Most wines…are known to enjoy mingling with oxygen after having been corked up! But newly freed vino thus unfurls its charms by being poured from one container to the next for an invigorating rendezvous with aeration." ~ Andrea Immer Robinson MS

Many thirsty vino-sapiens out there on the purple paved highways and byways ask the age-old question do you really need to ‘decant’? For many it’s an easy answer and still for others if they must, then they would prefer a short-cut, after all, we live in an “App” oriented culture today, which is just the fancy way to say it's a shortcut. Face it we live in a culture today that wants fast cars and fast foods, one that wants everything in a microwaved minute. So it should not be any surprise that alternatives to traditional 'decanting' have come on the scene.

First, let’s examine the essential well-known purpose or reason behind the supposed need to decant wines. The simple reasoning behind pouring wine from the bottle into a larger vessel is done to allow the wine to “breathe.”

But what does that mean; it’s a way to bring out the wines rich aromas and hopefully mellowing tannins, to probably, create a smoother finish and a better experience. This is said to be accomplished, by allowing the wine to have more room to interact with oxygen, far more than just by uncorking the bottle.

Now the claim by Vinturi the [short-cut] wine aerator, is that it supposedly achieves the ideal mix of wine and oxygen with each pour, no fuss and no muss. Just pour the red wine of your choice through the device from the bottle into your hopefully clean and lint free stem, and you're ready to go.
Vinturi does offer separate models for red and one for white wine and now even one for spirits oh-my. Claiming it’s for the purposes of optimal aeration for every sip, slurp and maybe even the last gulp. While testing this product in the previous 60 days on many different bottles of red wine, I really didn’t see a measured result that would make me think ‘wow’ this is the product I’ve been waiting for, or that my days of decanting are over, "woo-hoo."

But on the other hand, I did see a small, but the appreciable difference between the wine that had been through the Vinturi and wine that had not gone through it at all, so there is something to it. Even Mrs. Cuvee gave it her “good” rating. Speaking of good, it’s well to remember, when holding the Vinturi, try not to put your fingers over the holes; otherwise, it just defeats the purpose. Second, don’t let it fall into your stem or you’ll be picking up a lot of glass later.

While I won’t be tossing my decanter aside anytime soon, I will still be using the Vinturi for some of the more straightforward reds which I think could still benefit from a bit of “instant aeration.” But that said, I believe big red wines like grand, aged Barolo for example, may need to be opened the night before and poured into a traditional decanter. The reason being; so that the wine can be decanted several hours before it's even close to being ready or risk a wine that's just too tight to want to come out and meet you.

Other places and or moments where I think this product [I'm sure there are more] would come in very handy would be on picnics, backpacking and even those impromptu entertaining moments which many of us call tailgating.

What comes in each package, the Vinturi Aerator I received as a sample comes with a convenient stand to store in between uses [but don’t forget to clean the well out often]. It also comes with a screen to grab any sediment which may attempt to make its way to your glass, a good thing unless you like crunchy wines.

This product cleans up easy and is easily transported. The makers of Vinturi also offer it in a smaller size for the savvy vino-sapiens [ladies] who’d like to keep one in their purse. The prices for this product can be widely different; I’ve seen it for as much as $60 all the way down to $30. If you can find one in the lower price range, I’d recommend grabbing one for the arsenal of other wine gadgets you may already have. Until next time folks remember to sip long and prosper cheers!