Tag Archives: The Rabbit Wine Aerator

Breathe Easy: The Winebreather Carafe

The Winebreather image via givesimple

The Winebreather image via givesimple

A few posts back, I wrote about decanters and aerators and found that there was a significant difference in wine when you use them. I recently read about the Menu Winebreather Carafe. Menu claims that it adds 10x more oxygen to the wine in under 2 minutes…hmmm…that’s pretty interesting … and fast.  When you decant, you have to wait about 2 hours to to get the full effect of the oxygenation. Aeration is pretty instantaneous by comparison.

The way it works: You press the decanter onto the top of any wine bottle then flip it over to pour the wine into the decanter and serve. The beauty of this design is that if there’s any wine left in your decanter, and that’s a big if, you flip again, pour the remaining wine back into the bottle to store in the fridge. That’s kind of cool.

It retails for $49.95 and is available pretty much everywhere including Menu, Wine Enthusiast and Amazon.

Having a little science background (which can be a dangerous thing) I couldn’t just go by marketing copy and a few gold stars (although it seemed to score a lot of them).

Oh no, I’m going to do my own experiment ~ decanter vs. aerator vs. winebreather. I’d like to see for myself what’s what. Alas, I’ll have to wait a couple of days for the last constant; the Winebreather isn’t available at my local wine shops.  That’s a bit of a drag but it’s okay.

I’ll be sure to write a full report on my findings. But to pass the time, I’ll continue to enjoy my Rabbit. The aerator, I mean.

Cheers!

©TheWineStudent, 2013

Night of the Vampire

A couple of years ago, I tried Vampire wine ~ I don’t even remember what variety it was. I wasn’t too sure about it; the taste was metallic, the mouthfeel a bit thick and viscous. It was a little like…blood. Or at least how you might imagine blood might taste.

Did rip my bodice? Not exactly. It wasn’t the worst red I’d ever had but I wasn’t sure it was a wine to constantly search the catacombs for, either. Rather than write it off as a gimmick wine, I thought I’d again check out a couple of newer offerings ~ a lot can change in two years. I scared up my friends Shelly and Terri to sample with me. And, yes, creatures of the night ~ that was a Halloween pun, so raise your goblet and drink.

On the menu:  A ’10 Cabernet Sauvignon and a ’10 Pinot Noir.

Vampire Vineyards '10 Cabernet Sauvignon and '10 Pinot Noir

Vampire Vineyards ’10 Cabernet Sauvignon and ’10 Pinot Noir

We cracked open the Pinot first, moving from the lighter wine to full-bodied.  The first pour was without any aeration because I wanted the girls to experience firsthand the difference. It was a clear and bright ruby with predominant jammy top notes. As expected, it had a light, thin mouthfeel, and, overall, was fairly pleasant. Being drawn to a more full-bodied wine, Shelly wasn’t a huge fan but Terri found it easier to drink. When we poured the second taste through the Rabbit, it became much more complex and enjoyable. Pairing it with a creamy Brie and fruit brought even more dimension to what started out as a fairly basic Pinot.

The Cabernet was deep blood-red in color and beefier; everything you’d expect from a Cab. It had a distinct, almost heavy spice vibe to it before aerating and the mouthfeel was velvety with a bit of bounce. After we Rabbit-ized the wine, it softened,gradually developing a flavor that became more sophisticated. Shelly mentioned that she really enjoyed it the more she sipped.Terri found that by aerating the cab, she was able to enjoy it without any reflux-like side effects. We paired it with a sharp Wisconsin cheddar, sweet peppers and tomato.

I was impressed that the wine I’d sampled a couple of years before was not like what we tasted tonight. Overall, we found the Cabernet to be a willing beauty that we could definitely sink our teeth into.

I wanted to take this moment to give credit where it’s due and thank my daughter, Andrea, for all of her hard work producing the first video for The Wine Student blog. I’ll be posting it right after this and, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it’ll load!

Love you. Now go to bed!

Cheers!