Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator
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List Price: Our Price: $29.99 You Save: $9.96 (25%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator
Customer Review: I'll be darned ... it works
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought one of these on a whim when the product launched just before Christmas, 2006. It seemed like a perfect - if unnecessary - stocking stuffer for my wife, since we're both wine enthusiasts. I never really felt these "gimmick" aerators did much that a solid 1/2 hour decanting couldn't do. Boy was I wrong.
The device itself is attractive, compact and solidly built. It appears to be a simple oblong plexiglass "funnel" with a rubber grip. There are two small channels in the center of the funnel, which look like "cracks" in the plastic (I've read product info that assures worried buyers these cracks are proper and unavoidable). Wine is poured through the top of the funnel, and immediately a suction sound is heard as the pouring draws air into the wine before it escapes out the bottom of the funnel. The aerator is easily held, and I've never had a problem with spills.
Now on to the "effect" of the Vinturi. I've been using the Vinturi for 5 months now, on a variety of wines ... from a bottle of "Two Buck Chuck", to a nice '98 Vietti Barolo, to a bottle of 97' Phelps Insignia. In every circumstance, with every wine, I've noticed a significant improvement in the quality of the wine when poured through the Vinturi, as opposed to tasted directly from bottle. The flavours are more blended, the finish is less acidic, and frankly, it has made most of the wines I drink a more pleasurable experience, from sniff to swallow. I've conducted several "blind" tastings with friends, and we all agree - this thing works.
If you're a serious wine drinker - or shopping for a wine drinker in your life - give this product a try. At $40, it's about the price of a decent California Cabernet, and will yield results for decades to come. I plan on picking up a few dozen this Christmas and giving them out as gifts to business clients.
Customer Review: Don't think. Just buy.
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a chef and a fairly big wine aficianado, but I'm not a wine snob, and like one of the other reviewers, not at all into "wine gadgets" either. It's all about what's in the bottle. Somehow, SOMEHOW, this fantastic little gizmo has flown under my radar for over a year. I saw the Vinturi used at a wine shop I recently visited on vacation, and was immediately sold after doing a before/after taste test on a big, young cabernet-shiraz blend. This aerator simply works, and it works wonders. I bought one without hesitation.
For me, it's not just the time factor -- you save an hour or more easily by "decanting" your wine through the Vinturi -- but also the temperature factor. Red wine should properly be served at the cellar temperature, that is, somewhere in the 57-62°F range. If you pull a bottle of cabernet out, put it on the table and decant it traditionally for about 45-60 minutes, the wine isn't 58° any longer! So not only have you killed an hour of time, you've also elevated the temperature of your wine. The Vinturi aerator makes all of this unpleasantness a thing of the past.
Like the title says, don't think, because yes, it's priced right at that magical threshold of pain for many people. $20-30 and this would be a no-brainer. $35-40 makes me pause and reflect. Yes, it's a bit of a steep price tag, but it's a one-time purchase, and it will improve every glass of wine you drink for years to come. Less effective glass/crystal aerating devices sell for 2-3 times this price, so I suppose it's not that bad. It works and it looks great, too. (It's made of clear acrylic and a black rubber/santoprene-type material -- dishwasher-safe, too, although a simple rinse under the tap suffices well enough for me.)
The only thing I'm bitter about is that I didn't think of this and put it on the market -- I'd have made a fortune. :)
Customer Review: Can I give this 6 stars?
Summary: 5 Stars
I am not sure why I have never bought an aerator before. I have a brother and sister in the wine business and thought I would receive one as a gift, but it never happened. My girlfriend was very good to me this Christmas and this was the last gift she bought for me. It was also the best gift she bought. We drink a lot of white (her choice), but I prefer red. All wines need to breathe to some degree, but many good reds really need it. My favorite wine is a good Petite Sirah. Petites tend to be very big and need to breathe for a long time. I bought a bottle of Heretic Petite Sirah a year and a half ago and was a little disappointed ($40 bottle). It was nice, but it really didn't open up until we got to the end of the bottle. It is truly amazing the difference aerating can make to some wines. If I had this aerator the whole bottle would have been amazing as opposed to the last half glass.
I was pretty amazed when I used this aerator the first time. It is noisy! It adds so much air you would think the wine is carbonated when you pour it. The difference in taste is absolutely astounding. If you drink a fair amount of wine this product is easily worth $100. It makes a $10 bottle of wine worth $20 and a $15 bottle of wine worth $25 - $30. I have tried decanting wine (what a pain to clean the decanter properly) and it works ok, but it takes a lot of time. This is almost instantaneous. You don't have to decide whether you are having a glass or the whole bottle as you only aerate what you are going to drink. Open the bottle, aerate and pour and reseal the bottle.
The aerator seems very rugged and would probably survive a fall. I haven't used the strainer but do drink some wines with sediment.
What are you waiting for? If you like wine, buy one. You won't regret it. Thanks Kerri!
Customer Review: I want to like this device
Summary: 3 Stars
The Vinturi is an attractive, maybe even elegant, wine accessory. As its name implies, it's function is based on a simple and elegant physical principle (known as the venturi effect).
I've used the Vinturi for several weeks now. It definitely improves some wines, particularly those that are "big", or those that are young. It seems to dramatically improve cheap tannic wines. I haven't done blind taste tests, but I suspect I'd find a verifiable improvement in taste among those groups of wines. I can't imagine that a well-blended wine meant to be drunk right away (as opposed to one meant to be cellared) would be improved much at all. My unscientific survey seems to confirm that, though perhaps another principle is at play here - the placebo effect. That's not necessarily a bad thing. If my enjoyment of a seven dollar bottle of wine is significantly enhanced, the money I save purchasing cheap wine will pay for the Vinturi, and then some.
Although the Vinturi seems to be a simple device, it's not clear whether its function is consistent. It's a bit difficult to pour the wine down the edge of its bowl, as indicated in the instructions. Sometimes I consistently get the satisfying sound of the wine gurgling into my glass, but when the bowl gets too full and/or the wine drips from the two aerating holes, or the wine pours straight down the middle, is my wine still getting enough air? Is the Vinturi still working?
The most elegant device would be one designed to eliminate the ambiguity of its function (the ambiguity of its effect is yet another issue). I could imagine a Vinturi 2.0 whose mouth directs the wine down the edge of the bowl and eliminates the need for a practiced hand. A video review may have been more instructive; video instructions from the maker might have eliminated my doubts.
Customer Review: Love it
Summary: 4 Stars
I have both Vinturi (just saw it on Woot for about $5 less than I paid on Amazon... booo) and Soiree (which I have been using for over a year). Vinturi works much more clearly. I have tested several bottles with and without (although not blind) and you can tell a big difference. I think the Soiree is much more subtle.
One negative for the Vinturi is that the Soiree you just leave on your bottle, whereas the Vinturi (without the stand which I don't have and can't vouch for - doesn't come with this) leads to spilling because even if you shake it out over the glass there is still a little wine left inside. This can get kind of annoying to be honest as it makes a little bit of a mess.
The Vinturi is dishwasher safe though which the Soiree isn't (as far as I know).
In all, Vinturi works much better. I really feel like it is equal to decanting. If you like the look of decanting, you can use the vinturi as you poor the wine into the decanter. Truly a wonderful device. Highly recommend.
*****Update - 1/20/11 - I am downgrading this to 4 stars because the second one I ordered (to replace one that had broken through normal wear and tear (how is that possible, all it does it have wine poured through it and go through the dishwasher), was also defective. What happens is there are two thin cracks by the holes on each side and the wine leaks. Don't get me wrong I am returning it and getting a replacement because I believe in its effectiveness, but downgrading to 4 stars based on durability concerns, similar to Johan Santana for all my fellow Mets fans out