WINE
Sorting through the necessities A rundown of useful and not-so-useful wine gadgets Many of you will have received various wine-related gadgets over the holidays; once people know you like wine, the junk starts pouring in. I'm a wine minimalist: I believe all you really need is a good quality wine glass and a decent corkscrew (and with the ever-increasing presence of screwcaps, even this often isn't necessary). Wine gadgets vary widely in their usefulness, so read on to discover if you should keep or return your gadgetry gifts. Decanters Aside from looking pretty, decanters serve a valid purpose: they allow the wine to "breathe," exposing it to oxygen in order to release its aromas and flavours, as well as mellowing out the tannins in red wine. However, not all wines need to be decanted; only tannic red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux, and Barolo really benefit from decanting, as well as older wines in which sediment has formed—decanting allows you to remove the sediment so you don't end up with a mouthful of grit. Aerators Though they have recently exploded in popularity, wine aera-
tors are worse than useless. They out of cheap metal that shreds the range from cheap and simple to cork and drops cork bits into the outrageously expensive and ornate, wine. I much prefer a good-quality but all claim to enhance the wine's waiter's corkscrew, which are sleek flavour through the introand efficient, though they do duction of oxygen, thus require a bit of practice to VIDI VENI, releasing the aromas master. The most expensive and mellowing out the corkscrews are lever-style .com weekly tannins. But wait, isn't and these are probably the e u v mel@ l that precisely what demost foolproof type to use, e M y though they are rather bulky e l t canters do? Yep, you can s e i Pr achieve exactly the same and not practical for travel. thing by decanting your wine—or even just swirling it around in your Bottle Toppers glass. Furthermore, aerators often If the topper is hinged, meaning work too well: they force the wine that you flip the top part over and through an unnaturally rapid aging press down to form an air-tight process, making it taste like daysseal on the bottle, it's useful for old wine instead of a fresh bottle. sealing partially-finished bottles. If Some even claim to age wine sevit's basically just a decorative cork, eral years in just a few seconds, and it serves no other purpose than its because the vast majority of everyquestionable aesthetic value. day wines under $20 should be consumed within a year or two of beWine Glass Charms ing bottled, aerating a cheap bottle Although charms may makes it taste flat and lifeless. seem like useless, cutesypie items for people who like to over-accessorize, Corkscrews A good corkscrew is a necessity you need only host a gathering of that will save you a lot of time and wine drinkers to quickly discover effort. The classic winged corktheir value. Unless you don't care screw is one of the worst, second about swapping glasses (and the only to the basic twist-and-pull. latest cold virus) with your guests, Both of these are usually made wine charms are extremely use-
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ful in identifying everyone's drink. Of course, you could mark glasses with a lot of other stuff—tape, twist ties, lipstick—but if you happened to receive some wine glass charms for Christmas, don't toss them away even if they look tacky; they're bound to come in handy at some point. V
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DISH 23