Really now do you believe all these wine contraptions are necessary? I suppose it is all a matter of necessity verses need to have the latest gadgets. Before I became so interested in learning about my favorite drink of choice I was one who would purchase just about anything connected with keeping my wine or making it better if I had the funds to do so. But really as I learn more in my studies on wine it becomes more clear to me, or should I say it is my opinion, that so many factors from nature to making of this drink are so much more important to the final taste. In my opinion a little gadget such as an aerator is not going to make a bad bottle of wine any more appealing to you than if you did not run the wine through the aerator. Maybe I am just naive in this area but the more I read the more I remain with my way of thinking. In my opinion wines are made to be enjoyed, not guzzled down without knowledge of the taste being left on your palate. If indeed you open a bottle of wine and slowly drink and taste it your wine in my opinion should self aerate. I have read recently that just allowing the bottle once opened to sit for several minutes before pouring will allow it to breathe (aerate) is not the way to do it...the tiny neck of the bottle does not leave enough room for aeration to happen. They suggest decanting the wine. It is in the pouring action that the wine aerates. So in my humble, inexperienced, nonprofessional opinion I would think that if you have the proper glass to drink your wine from that if you simply pour yourself a glass and wait a few moments to do the sniff, swirl and looks for legs (tears) on the sides of the glass that by the time you savor all of these moments that your wine should be aerated enough for drinking. Then with the extra $25-$120 you have saved by not adding an aerator to your wine gadgets you can then purchase a few more wonderful bottles of wine to add to your rack or cellar. Again...this is just my personal opinion not meant to defer you from purchase of these modern inventions. However I just can not imagine my great, great grandfather from Italy who made his own Italian wine from his own tiny vineyard on his property for his own consumption worrying about aerating. I think the elements the grapes are grown in are the most important factors in a good bottle of wine and just pouring and allowing the aromas to escape for a few moments before drinking adds to the wonderfulness of your glass of wine. I could be wrong...unless of course someone gifts me with an aerator this Christmas and proves me otherwise!
As Poppi Nonno would say...Salute!
