The one with an Aerator

Today was exciting in a way which multiplied! One of the Mortgage Planners in my office came in & brought each of us a bottle of wine as a Christmas gift! (Huge Wine Enthusiast if I haven't before mentioned it). It was quite a busy day, & I was looking forward to relaxing with a glass of wine. When I arrived home, my cousin begged my Aunt to let her give me my Christmas present early. I was nearly certain I knew what she got me, & her excitement to give it to me when I mentioned having wine confirmed my suspicions. I was thrilled when I was proved entirely correct: she had gotten me a Vinturi Aerator!

Now, what an aerator does is allow red wine to breath instantaneously, to 'breath' is simply to get air into the wine. As the wine pours, it gains velocity at which point two small air tubes on each side of the devise allow air to be pulled into the wine, making a little bubbily noise. This allows a wine which would normally decant for an hour to be ready to drink in seconds! Decanters (& now aerators) are used with older & more complex red wines due to the need to balance out the tannins in them. Tannis are acquired from the skins of grapes, which also give the wine its beautiful color; they're the dryness or slightly bitter taste that you run into most predominantly in the wines of Italy. Decanting or aerating allows the tannis to balance out, as well as lets the wine fully develop so that you can experience the wider range of the olfactory, gustatory, & tactile subtleties it has to offer. Swirling wine in the glass also allows it to better breathe, which is one of the reasons you see the in-the-know crowd doing so. Vinturi is one of the top brand of Aerators available currently!

Thank goodness I has suspected it, or my excitement would have been completely uncontained!

The bottle I was gifted, was from the Central Valley of Chile. Chile is a wonderful source of new & exciting wines! Granted, it has been "discovered" within the last 3 years or so, it is still providing intriguing & bold wines of good integrity at a fantastic price to quality ratio! The estate is Agustos, a 2007 vintage Merlot Reserve. Unfortunately, this wine is at the very cut-off of being considered a Reserve, & I prefer them with quite a bit more time to develop; however, I was pleasantly surprised. It has that piercing darkness of the Merlot with shining glimpses of ruby around the edges. In typical Merlot style, it's soft & easy to contemplate over. It's fruity, like cooked Blackberries or plums, with hints of mint & herbs on the nose. It is fruity on the palat, though still needs a few years to truly balance out. Perhaps I'll try it again in 2012? Today presented two nicely complimenting presents, which I'm happily enjoying!