Nine Wine Aerator Facts Part Two
Nine Wine Aerator Facts Part Two contains a little more of the science of wine….
Part One of Nine Wine Aerator Facts can be found here.
If you leave this page with nothing else, just understand this simple fact as the WineWeaver® was only designed to do one thing- aerate wine to improve wine instantly- whilst incorporating some unique, patented features.
Wine Aerator Fact Five: Chemical Relationships
The flavour of the wine is made up from hundreds of compounds and the art of the wine-maker is understanding about the relationships between the alcohol, acid, sugar and tannin. Wine writer James Suckling points out ‘a red wine with high tannin should also have a high alcohol so that neither component sticks out’ relative to the other. So the art of good wine-making is achieving the balance in the wine.
Wine Aerator Fact Six: Alcohol
Wine is defined by the amount of alcohol and this is shown on the wine label as a percentage. Wine generally ranges between 7%-15% (https://en.mimi.hu/wine/alcohol.html). During the process of aeration the strong smell given by the alcohol will be dissipated leaving behind more subtle scents, which are alluded to in wine tasting notes, such as the blackberry, cherry or hints of leather.
Wine Aerator Fact Seven: Wine-maker Meets Wine-grower
We are sniffing the wine to understand the combination that the wine-maker is trying to achieve in a particular wine. The wine-maker is given grapes created by nature and the wine –growers skills and it is the wine-makers job to bring out the best expressions of the grape in the form of wine. The WineWeaver® is designed to assist the wine taster in finding those expressions.
Wine Aerator Fact Eight: Oxidisation and Evaporation
As the wine oxidises the tannins will soften and the alcohol evaporate the wine so wine tasters and drinkers like us are trying to capture a moment in the life of a wine through its taste. I won’t deny that you could open the wine and leave it for an hour, several hours or even overnight for the initial oxidation to take place and for the natural tannins to soften. You may also just choose to swirl it around in a glass and take the risk of it jumping out on your favourite item of clothing.
However, with the time pressures of our modern lives we seldom have time to plan to leave a bottle open for the period of time needed to enhance the wine within as soon as possible, if not immediately. It is just more practical to reach for a modern wine aerator like the WineWeaver® which is designed specifically to allow wine to be served by the glass.
Wine Aerator Fact Nine: Tannin
Tannin is a natural part of the wine as mentioned above, wine-makers use it in the wine making process. It is produced from the grape skins used in the process of making the wine and can have a bitter taste. When we open the bottle to drink the wine, we want the tannins to soften and this is where the WineWeaver® wine aerator plays its part through aeration. The aeration process immediately releases the harsh tannins and allows the true flavours of the wine to come through, just as the wine-maker intended.
As the time passes and the wine aeration process enhances the wine you might also use the term ‘second nose’ to describe the new sensations and nuances in taste that come to the forefront. If you leave it to oxidise for too long, the wine will become flat and all the desired taste lost forever.
Wine aeration summary:
- Wine aeration is a part of the wine journey
- The journey can be long and slow (and if you use a decanter involve a lot of washing and drying up) or immediate and simple if you use a WineWeaver® on a glass
- All wines are unique although the factory blended ones are designed to be consistent and may be blended to ensure they are immediately drinkable
- Some wine is designed to be laid down for the tannins to work on the wine
- Wine aeration is natural and wine aerators enhance the process
- Wine aeration helps younger wines to imitate the natural aging process of wines laid for several years
