Wine Aerators <---What is that???

You may have heard a wine snob (or two) say, "you have to let the wine breathe..." But what does that mean???

If you are anything like the rest of us, when you need glass of wine, you need it STAT!  Who has time to open the wine and let it sit for hours on end?  Certainly not any Winos I know, that's for sure. So this is where a wine aerator will come in handy.

When the wine passes through an aerator, oxygen is infused into the wine, opening up the flavor and mellowing out the tannins. Just like the little alveoli in the lungs, you know those little sacs that inflate your lungs and keep you from suffocating, a wine aerator kinda works the same way.

If you are a red wine drinker, you might want to invest in an aerator. Almost all red wines need to breathe. You can drink it straight from the bottle if you want to, but I wouldn't recommend it.  The younger the red, the more it needs to breathe. But if it's aged, don't let it breathe too much, it can ruin the flavor of the wine altogether.

If you prefer white wine, you may not need to air it at all, unless it's a dry white.  Some people don't find any taste improvements from airing out whites, but it's your call.

Amazon has a great selection of wine aerators available, the most popular varietes are made by Venturi (named after the late Italian Physicist, Giovanni Battista Venturi). 

You can check out this article for a little more information on aerators: "Wine Aerator: What is it? Do You Need One? 


Bottoms up!