About a month ago, I became very frustrated with having to wait for a nice bottle of wine to open up in the decanter. I would decide to open something nice for my wife and me, and we would have to let it sit there for a half hour to breath before consuming. That put me on the hunt for a solution- and I found one. It is a nifty little gadget called the Vinturi Wine Aerator. It can be purchased for around $40, depending on the store. It also comes with a screen for older, sediment-filled, wines. It has two small ports on opposite sides from each other which draws in air as the wine passes through the opening in the bottom. The air is infused into the wine, so to speak, allowing the bouquet and subtle notes in the wine to present themselves much sooner than if you were to just let it aerate in a decanter. So, while this will only really save you an hour, it really wakes up the wine much faster. Some people believe that it can even add a few years of cellaring, or the maturity that a few years would bring to a wine. I am not sure that this is true, but it is certainly true that this aerator makes a difference in the wine. I challenge you to get a decent bottle of wine (after all there is nothing that you can do for some shitty wines) and have two glasses- painful I know. Pour about once to two ounces through the Vinturi and, in a separate glass, pour right from the bottle. I swear, you will be able to tell the difference.
Speaking of wine, what do you make of the beaujolais nouveau that came out this week? Also, any plans to check out the new restaurant in Philly...Square 1682? We talked briefly about the chef, whose name I couldn't remember while at the Olive Oil store in WC the other day. It's Guillermo Tellez. I think I said that he moved on from Northbrook Market (Kennett Square) and went to Chicago, but he's in Philly. (My mistake.)
ReplyDeleteI do not have much experience with Beaujolais Nouveau. I tried it a few times, but am not sure if I tried good makers or not. For those of you not familiar with it, Beaujolais Nouveau is a french wine made from the Gamay grape. It is distributed, by french law, no earlier than the third Thursday of November. What it is, is a first sampling of the new harvest. It is pressed, fermented, and bottled all in a few weeks. It is grapy and a bit sour, but it is not meant to be a great wine. It is a neat little tradition that I find charming. I have a similar one- the first day that the temperature drops below 60 degrees, I make chili. It is corny, much as Beaujolais Nouveau is, but what is life without tradition. Second, I will make it a point to get to Square 1682. I looked him up, and Chef Tellez has an impressive resume and menu.
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