So while on vacation, we have been doing side by side before and after with the Vinturi aerator. Call it curiosity.
You could tell a difference with Cristia CdR, a Monastrell, and a cab.
Put an 07 Windy Oaks Cuvee through it, and it failed miserably. It seems like the Vinturi “distorted” it when compared to pop and pour. FWIW, put the Cuvee away another 6 months+ It’s not ready yet.
Is it us, or has anyone else seen Pinot Noir fail with the Vinturi?
If i don’t catch the girl at the wine bar, she will put my pinot noir through the Vinturi so this wasn’t the first time it happened.
I got one as a gift and we tried it with a young OR pinot…it did bring out a lot more nuance in the nose and seemed to help the wine come together a bit. We need to try a blind test.
I have played around with the Vinturi a bunch. Even blind, there is a difference between a pair of wines from the same bottle.
I do very strongly believe though that the mechanism is not anything chemical to the wine but that the aerator causes some air to be dissolved into the wine which lightens the texture of a young, aggressive wine. In general, I don’t find that difference to actually be more enjoyable. The softening of a wine reminds me of a manipulated wine more than an matured or decanted one.
I came to this conclusion from following pairs of glasses of the same wine, one run through the aerator and one not. While there was a noticeable difference immediately, the two glasses headed to identical in about 30 min or so. I have seen this consistently.
i have found The Vinturi is OK if you find a young bottle with noticeable heat, it will chill this out and can add some length to a wine’s finish. i don’t use The Vinturi regularly as i find it often takes a wine and turns it into 7/8 wine & 1/8 water - just makes a good wine go limp
Just opened one today for Xmas. Tried with a 2006 Vincent Arroyo Cab. I think it made a difference, but I might be trying to convince myself that. I’ll do more experimentation.
I got one for Christmas as well. I’ll test drive it tonight with a young wine by pouring a non-vinturied glass and a vinturied glass to see if I can perceive a difference.
We’ve used our Vinturi over the past couple years with a variety of young wines, including Burgundies. For us using it on young (or older) hard wines, it softens them and makes them more approachable. We have yet to use it on a wine that it weakens.
Since we drink primarily mature wines we don’t use it very often.
I enjoy the Vinturi, and do believe that they help a bit with certain wines…but more than anything they make a great conversation piece…and a cool sucking sound!
Funny story on the Vinturi: my wife was coming through securtity at PHL the day after Christmas, and TSA saw multile Vinturi’s in someones bag on the scanner. They had no idea what they were, and were harassing the poor guy about it. He was pleading with them saying that you pour wine through it aerate it and the TSA person looked dumbfounded. Needless to say, my wife said, “Those are legit, I have them at home” and the guy was good to go. I was crackin’ up when she told me that story. TSA scares me! -mJ
TSA almost strip searched me in Orlando on the way to Atlanta. The guy insisted that i was hiding something and something was wrong. I was hungover as hell, and traveling with my parents.
Attire: Tshirt, jeans, flip flops. (yeah i’m really hiding something here)
Pockets: a wallet and cellphone.
I did tell him what I thought of his investigative work as I walked past him… [middle-finger.gif]
I think it does soften young wines, but in every situation in which I’ve used it, the end result is disappointing. It seems to take away a lot of the character of the wine, leaving it softer but uninteresting.
I have a feeling that folk that enjoy / tolerate tannins in wine find them reduced by the Vinturi action and thereby the wine is weakened. Since i am not at all tolerant of hard tannins, I find the Vinturi very useful on young tannic wines.
Not a big fan of the Vinturi, sure it works, so does an extra 15 minutes in the decanter.
Funny story, my step-grandmother had 3 different Magnums of $6 bs for Christmas dinner and the Vinturi. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that running crappy wine thru it isn’t going to make it taste like a $100 bottle. Glad I brought wine to dinner!