![]() Many researchers say that up to 80% of taste is smell. The result is a bouquet that’s not obscured by free-floating, rogue compounds. Aeration affects both ethanol and sulfites and tempers both of these sensations. The former has a stinging, medicinal scent while the latter brings to mind lit matches and old eggs. Two very common reasons for a wine’s smell to become overpowering is because of the presence of volatile ethanol and sulfites. Using it is as easy as putting the stopper on the bottle and pouring wine.īenefits of Aerating Wine Enhances a Wine’s Bouquet When the stopper is fitted into the open wine bottle and wine is poured, it runs through the aerator and out into the glass. Bottle Stopper or Wine Pourer AeratorĪ bottle stopper or wine pourer aerator is a wine aerator that’s fitted onto an open bottle of wine, like a speed pourer on a liquor bottle. Wine typically flows out of the aerator slower than the average person pours, so make sure there’s no overflow. To use one, you just pour the wine into it, taking care not to pour too much at once. The wine is poured into the vessel where it runs through an aerating chamber and out into the glass. Handheld Wine AeratorĪ handheld wine aerator is a small vessel either held or placed on top of a wine glass (or a wine glass with pour lines, if you're feeling august). How you use a wine aerator depends on the type of aerator you have. Lastly, you can use an aerator for wine, which does the same thing but speeds up the process by using pressurized oxygen. The second is to learn how to decant wine using a decanter, which is a glass vessel designed specifically to increase a wine’s surface area and activate oxidation and evaporation. That increases the surface area of the wine and encourages both oxidation and evaporation. The first is as simple as swirling it around in the glass a few times. There are three primary ways to aerate wine. By speeding evaporation up, ethanol and sulfites head to the skies and reduce the medicinal and sulfuric aspects of a wine’s flavor and aroma. Taking what’s already there and making it as pleasant and organized as possible. Think of it not as changing the wine’s character but as grooming the wine. While both are crucial to the production of wine, there are always extra molecules of them that float freely and can be removed. ![]() And sulfites are purposefully put in wine to control microbes and prevent overoxidation in the winemaking process. ![]() Ethanol is, of course, in wine because of the alcohol content. Two of the unstable compounds within wine, ethanol and sulfites, are the first to evaporate. Some of the ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde and acetic acid, which reduces the strong, medicinal, or vegetal characteristic that’s mostly noticeable in the wine’s bouquet.Įvaporation is the second important chemical reaction that wine aerators accelerate. One of those compounds susceptible to oxidation is ethanol, or alcohol. It’s the same chemical reaction that takes place when fruit turns from young to overly ripe. It does this by sending the wine through a funnel of pressurized oxygen.īy exposing the wine to unnatural levels of oxygen, the compounds within the wine that are susceptible to oxidation undergo a chemical reaction. In the simplest terms, the purpose of a wine aerator is to force wine to interact with air to accelerate oxidation and evaporation. You should also check out what is a wine aerator. Then we’ll take a look at what a wine aerator does, how to aerate wine, and why you should aerate wine. First, we’ll define what a wine aerator is. So let’s get you familiar with aerators so you can reap the benefits. Check out our list of the best wine aerators out there and see for yourself. Because aeration will seriously enhance your experience with certain wines, which is why restaurants offer to aerate wine for you as part of the corkage fee. I mean, for just a few bucks, you can summon the god of wine.Īlright, maybe not totally without exaggeration. It is, without exaggeration, as if the hand of Bacchus himself reaches out through the garnet-colored obscurity and personally presents to you only the most desirable scents and flavors. The simple act of aerating a wine brings its flavors to life. And it’s frustrating when the tasting notes you’re reading don’t seem to apply to you.Įnter aeration. Ever opened up a bottle of wine, poured a glass, and tasted notes of … wine? Unless you’ve spent time in sommelier courses training in deductive tasting and are intimately familiar with tannins in wine, it can be difficult to isolate and identify the sensory characteristics of wine.
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