A Wine-Lover's Arsenal

Air is both the blessing and the curse to wine.

Too much air and the wine oxidizes. Too little and a young wine remains backward and doesn't deliver the character that the wine maker intended.

For that reason, I prefer to decant almost all young wines, for varying lengths of time depending on the wine and the circumstances. And for decanting, you need a vessel into which the wine goes before it is served.

At this celebratory time of year, a nice decanter might be a perfect addition to the wine lover's arsenal of vinous gadgets.

All sorts of decanters are available for wine lovers, some squat and some tall and lean. I have no particular favorites, but one of the most elegant is the Eisch No-Drop Crystal Swan decanter. Priced at about $140, it's a lot of money, but it holds a full bottle and never drips on tablecloths.

Basic decanters, however, can be had from $15 or so, and they work well to help young wines open up. Some come with corks or glass stoppers.

When dealing with highly concentrated red wines that need even more aeration than a single decanting provides, there are a number of gadgets specifically designed to aerate wine. One of the best is called Vinturi, invented by Rio Sabadicci, (about $40). A small plastic sieve of sorts, Vinturi allows the person decanting the wine to pour from the bottle into the Vinturi. A gurgling sound is heard as the wine passes through the Vinturi and into the decanter below. It may also be held over each person's glass.

My favorite such device, which works better and is more attractive, is called The WineFall, a hand-blown glass "tube" with a series of layers developed by Sonoma County wine marketer Pete Nudi and glass artist Tom Hassur. The WineFall aerates wine more efficiently than can be done by splashing the wine back and forth between two decanters for a half hour. Wine is poured into the top of the WineFall, and the liquid sluices layer-to-layer through the glass into the waiting decanter below.

The effect is not only stimulating to the taste buds, but it also aerates the wine in a way I haven't see any other device achieve. For the wine lover and collector with all the accoutrements of the trade, this is one device that may be used more frequently than all the others. The price is a bit daunting: $360. But read about it on the Internet or watch a video (www.thewinefall.com/video.html) and you may be convinced it's worth the investment.

Another new wine accoutrement I love is the insulated three-bottle wine bottle-carrying bag by Oregon-based Corx (www.corxwinebags.com), which features removable gel-ice pack dividers for cooling. At $40, it's an investment in quality, especially for those who often take wines "on the road." Not only is the bag lightweight, but it is strong and features a doubled top, a Velcro closure plus a clip to keep bottles from slipping out.

Now, for a future-look suggestion for next holiday season: Check out the Eisch Rapid Cooling Decanter (about $150). Not yet available in the United States (though some Web sites will ship to the United States), this is a clever, elegant, slender crystal vase that is twin-walled. Between the walls is a clear liquid that doesn't freeze but gets colder than 32 degrees Fahrenheit when kept in a freezer. When you pour room-temperature wine into it, the liquid chills down within three minutes.

Wine of the Week: 2006 Little Black Dress Pinot Grigio, California ($10) — The floral/tropical aroma is the top attraction of this dry, crisp white wine. It is a new label for Fetzer Vineyards, and features an excellent dry Syrah rose and a solid Merlot.

Dan Berger resides in Sonoma County, Calif. Berger publishes a weekly newsletter on wine and can be reached at [e-mail]. To find out more about Dan Berger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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