Choosing The Best Wine Aerator
They say what you don't know can't hurt you, and while popping open a bottle of your favorite red wine five minutes before you drink it won't hurt you (that is, unless you nail yourself in the eye with the cork), wine experts would argue that what you don't know about aerating wine properly can most certainly hinder your wine's flavor and your overall satisfaction.
Consumer Reports Magazine recently conducted a study with two trained wine experts and 62 untrained wine drinkers. Tasters sampled Gato Negro Cabernet Sauvignon (about $10 a bottle) poured directly from the bottle, through the Rabbit wine aerator, and the Vinturi essential wine aerator. The 62 wine novices immediately tasted a clear positive difference in the wine that had gone through each red wine aerator. Surveyors then let the wineglasses that were poured straight from the bottle sit uncovered for half an hour. Results showed that although the novices did taste differences in flavor between an aerated glass of wine and a glass that had been sitting, there was no clear favorite or noticeable cons.
So what does that tell us?
The short answer is that you can get a similar effect to the flavor of your wine by letting your glass sit out and “breathe” for at least 30 minutes. But really, who has time for that? That's where a wine aerator comes in.