Wine Aerators are small tools that aid the aeration of wine while it’s being poured. The reason for their use is to basically make the wine taste as best as possible by exposing as much of it to oxygen as possible. You’ll find that some wines, especially recent vintages, will be very ‘closed’ which means that they’ve not fully developed and are not releasing all the aromas and flavours as a more mature wine would. The process of pouring the wine through a wine aerator into a glass or a decanter encourages the wine to ‘open’ up more by the exposure to oxygen and you should notice a remarkable difference in the aroma and taste if you care to leave the wine in its’ receptacle for a while after pouring. Swirling or agitating the wine within the wine glass or wine decanter prior to resting will also enhance the results.

Some wines may be very tannic or very powerful in flavour, so much so that aerating will hopefully soften the wine enough to make it approachable and good to drink. If this type of wine was simply just poured into a glass you may find that it would need to be left for a considerable time before it’s pleasant to drink. This isn’t always the case and it may be just that the wine needs longer to mature in the bottle before it is ‘ready’ to drink. Wines continually change after being bottled and this is the simple reason for aging wine. The best way to test this for yourself is to buy a case of a dozen bottles, for example and then open and try a bottle every now and then and gauge the development over the time that you’re drinking them. You’ll eventually come to try a bottle that doesn’t taste quite as good as the time before and that’s normally a good sign that the wine has just ‘peaked’ and the rest should be drunk.

Some wines that have aged for a considerable time will also develop some sediment and occasionally some slightly off putting initial aromas upon opening. If a wine aerator also has a built in filter this should help in both instances. The filter will help separate the sediment from the liquid and at the same time allow the oxygen to get to the wine and give the built up ‘off aromas’ a chance to dissolve into the atmosphere and thus leaving the good smelling wine behind for you to enjoy.

Wine aerating funnels and other associated wine accessories are a personal thing and many people have their own views and opinions over their effectiveness or their necessity. I am of the firm belief that they definitely assist in the aeration and the enjoyment of all red and white wines, however young or old, fortified or otherwise and I will always use some sort of device to assist in the aeration process should there be something available on that occasion.

Many wine funnels and wine aerators are inexpensive in relation to the job they do and together with other related wine accessories make ideal wine gifts for the wine connoisseur or the wine enthusiast alike.

I tend to find the old styled Wine Maps a bit general and dull and although they’re fascinating and full of useful information, I find they’re bit hard to navigate and a bit ‘old school’. That’s until I came the across the modernised and highly informative, colour coded De Long Wine Maps.

The husband and wife team of Steve & Deborah De Long have extensively researched the key Wine areas of the World, making the maps easy to use and navigate, putting a fun element into it also! They have produced a variety of different wine maps, covering the most popular and interesting wine regions of the World, with many more to follow or so we’re led to believe. The famous California wine region in the USA, the traditional wine producers of France, the sprawling Spanish and Portuguese Iberian Peninsula and the second largest wine producing country in the World, Italy.

They look fantastic in both an office and restaurant environment, whether you’re serving up some traditional Italian food with a lovely bottle of Chianti, or like to keep tabs on your favourite French Wine region. Equally, you could use the maps for travel purposes, as a research tool before heading off on a Wine Holiday! They’d certainly make a great gift for any wine novice or enthusiast in your life, or even if you love the country you’re buying for.

As this event was timed from 10.00am until 5.00 pm this would seem, at first glance, to indicate a very involved and technically demanding day. How wrong could I be?

The entire day was enthralling, exciting and most of all, fun. The other attendees, other than those from The Aroma Academy were all there, as I was, to further their knowledge in the aromas associated within the whisky world. Whisky is a subject I have become intrigued with in the last year or so and how better to get to know more about the subject than a day long Whisky Aroma Master Class with none other than Dr George Dodd and Alan Gordon, the founders of The Aroma Academy.

Their knowledge of their subject is unrivalled and definitely opened everyone’s eyes, minds and more importantly their noses to the fact that smell is around 95% of what we taste. This fact makes you want to learn more and I am definitely booking again for the more advanced second day when it’s available. The entire subject of whisky (or gin, or wine) aromas makes you want to delve deeper and deeper to see what lies below to get to the final aroma of what you know in your memory but can’t quite name – this class points you in the direction to help you do this and the rest is up to you and, with practice, it can be done.

Although it is an involved subject, it can be fun matching the aromas to your favourite whiskies and if anyone cannot enjoy this experience then you’re definitely in the wrong frame of mind!

I thoroughly recommend the Whisky Aroma Nosing Kits and especially the one day Whisky Aroma Master Class should you get the chance to attend!

http://www.aroma-academy.co.uk/

One question we always get asked regarding Champagne Glasses is, ‘What is the difference between a Champagne Flute and a Champagne Tulip?’

The obvious answer is the shape. However, it appears it isn’t all about shape and form as I’m just about to explain.

The Champagne Flute, with its straight sides gives a more streamlined look but also offers a smaller surface area for your Champagne than the tulip. This is all very intricate as most servers would fill any type of champagne glass too full for the drinker to appreciate the fine aromas that the champagnes produce.

The Champagne Tulip is quickly becoming the favoured one of the pair, but again once again it is often filled too full. The tulip, with its far rounder shape allows the aromas to build in the bowl. One thing that happens, and we’ve all done it, is to smell the champagne the minute it’s been poured and quickly settled down. The mousse or bubbles are still popping and all we really smell is carbon dioxide. Let the champagne settle for a little while and then ‘nose’ it and the aromas and complexities will be far more rewarding than the earlier nose full of gas! Only fill the glass half full as this is far better to appreciate the champagne than a completely full glass.

I personally prefer the rounder Champagne Tulip as the aromas offer so much more. It is even said that a lot of experts in the Champagne world are beginning to work their way from these two traditional glasses above to a more ‘normal’ wine glass shape as the bowls are so much larger and the aromas therefore get much more complex and beautiful. The adverse  point of this is that an everyday wine glass will not have an effervescent point notched in the bottom of the bowl, as most champagne glasses do, to promote a seemingly never ending flow of bubbles.

The easiest way to answer the question ‘What’s the difference between a Champagne Flute and a Champagne Tulip’ is this – try your Champagne in both and take your pick! But remember, when you’re raising a glass to mark the Queen’s 60 years on the throne this June, you can impress your friends with a piece of very simple knowledge!

Whether you’re looking to serve up a classic Cuba Libre, Bloody Mary or a Tequila Sunrise, the easy to use VacuVin Cocktail Shaker with a built in strainer will certainly add a bit of style to the process. The glass, plastic and silicone cocktail making accessory has measurements in both millimetres and fluid ounces so you really can’t get your recipes and proportions mixed up! This modern cocktail shaker is great fun to use, easy to clean and best of all, it looks and feels great.

Serve up your very own Cocktails, trying brand new and exciting drinks in no time. You could even give them a personal, unique touch, something that will definitely impress your friends!

Click here to view the brand new additional VacuVin products in the Bar Range.

Alternatively, click here to view the video for this product.

This will potentially shock Bond fanatics as Martini has been the drink of choice for the movie character for the last 50 odd years. There’s an argument that this could be seen as a move with the times as people can relate more to the ‘everyday’ Bond actor Daniel Craig who isn’t bothered as to how his drinks are prepared. This is in comparison to the older generation of Bond actors, Sean Connery for example, who made great fuss to a Martini being shaken, not stirred.

We will have to wait and see whether this is highlighted in the new Bond film or it’s just brushed away and nobody notices!

The Rathfinny Estate, when fully operational, will endeavour to employ around 30 full time staff with an additional 200 workers required on a seasonal basis, harvesting over the summer and also pruning over the winter. The owners are hopeful of producing one million bottles a year and believe they will export up to 50% of these bottles with the remaining 50% remaining in the UK to be sold in British Supermarkets and to be offered in Restaurants, Hotels and Pubs.

This sort of investment, time and effort being literally ploughed into the UK Wine market can only be a good thing for the economy, but more specifically the UK Wine Industry. This will (and has) raised the profile of British Wine which is surely a good thing for everyone connected, and each day the UK seems to get a tad  nearer to maybe one day competing totally with our European wine neighbours, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. The UK currently produces approximately three million bottles of wine each year and with ventures like the Rathfinny Estate this production is likely to be doubled by 2015.

For more information, visit: www.rathfinnyestate.com

Take the paper clip, the drawing pin, the matchstick, cat’s eyes……the list is endless but they are all relatively simple and all have stood the test of time.

The brilliant Glencairn Whisky Glass was born in the same simplistic manner.

 A Scottish gentleman, Raymond Davidson, could not enjoy the aromas and flavours of his malt whisky as well as he thought he should and to that extent sampled many containers and receptacles in order to try and sort out which size and which shape of drinking instrument  altered and improved his favourite malts.

The final shape he decided upon resulted in what is called The Glencairn Official Whisky Glass as we know it today and which won the prestigious Queens Awards for Enterprise & Innovation in 2006.

It wasn’t originally thought about as a commercial venture but simply as a means to an end and helping a whisky to taste that much better. The cheap prototype was produced and then left in a home office drawer for a number of years before being discovered by one of the Raymond’s sons who, being inquisitive, asked about it and what it was doing there. It was immediately taken from the office and after some investigation into production possibilities it quickly became a reality and the rest is history.

There are hundreds of different whisky glasses available on the market but it is this little glass you invariably see, whenever you are shown an image of a whisky event or a whisky tasting, whether it is local or International.

The simplicity of the design and the functionality of the glass in really enhancing the aromas and tastes of all types of whiskies explains fully why this glass is so good and why it is worthy of all the awards and recommendations it continually receives throughout.

If you don’t own one – you’ll never know what you’re missing and you’ll be kicking yourself forever!!

Take these scenarios…

The guests that are invited are aware that you’re a bit of a wine buff and are therefore, understandably a little confused or worried as to what to bring as a wine gift.

If they bring a bottle which is relatively expensive then they would obviously wish to enjoy this with the meal. However, if the host does indeed know there stuff, then they would already have selected a wine to match the food and would probably have decanted it a few hours beforehand. This therefore leaves the guests gift either surplus to requirements or to be drunk, without the decanting it deserved, meaning that it would not be as enjoyable as it probably should have been.

If your guests were to bring along a wine that is cheap or just doesn’t go with the food there will be a sense of embarrassment for them in knowing that ‘their’ wine would probably be put to one side to be used in the next family Spaghetti Bolognese! There will also probably be a small sense of guilt from them knowing that they are drinking some very nice wine offered by you whereas the wine they brought along was not really good enough to drink alongside it.

If your guests know a lot about wine and you don’t, then the roles are entirely reversed with the awkward decisions and situations again arising.

From the hosts point of view the easiest solution to the ‘what to serve’ problem really depends on how well he knows who is coming to dinner. If they are great friends and regular dinner partners then there really isn’t a question to answer as he would already know their tastes in wine and the level of quality that would be expected or acceptable. Similarly the guests would also know what type and quality of wines would be welcomed so everything is far easier with no awkward moments.

I can fully understand that the host does not want to open one of his prize wines if he knows that his guests are either not going to appreciate how good it is (so why waste it) or totally do realise how good it is but have reciprocated with a bottle of poor quality (and have probably done so before!!).

The easy way out if you feel that guests are going to unduly worry about which wines to bring is to say, don’t bother, leave the wine to me and if you wish to bring a dinner gift then some chocolates or a plant or anything else you fancy would be very well received, thank you!!

This familiar situation is known to everyone – you’re having good friends round to dinner and you have to attempt to figure out a starter, a main course and a dessert that you know will suit everyone and that they’ll all appreciate. If they are good friends you’ll already know which foods they like, the ones they don’t or even the ones that they aren’t able to eat for whatever reason. Familiarity is good and the food selections, purchases and preparations normally go smoothly and without any hassles simply because everything is orderly and done in the correct fashion in that nothing is left to chance or to the last minute.

When it comes to the various wines that are to be served with the dinner these should also be given considerable care and attention and should also not be left to the last minute.

My routine with regards to the wine is simply to think about it with a few hours to spare. Try and match the wines with what you know your guests have enjoyed in the past and select those that should go with the food to be offered. The main course is normally the most important for obvious reasons but this should not be at the expense of the wine to be served with the starters or dessert.

Whether the wine for the main course is of a fairly recent vintage or is even getting on a bit in years, I can guarantee that in most cases it is definitely worth decanting the wine at least a couple of hours before the dinner is to be served. If an older wine is to be poured then it may be necessary to use a strainer of some sort to filter out any sediment which has built up over its lifetime in the bottle but with the wines from more recent years, simply just pouring the wine into a decanter or similar receptacle really enhances the aromas and the flavour.

You often hear about ‘letting the wine breathe’ but is this strictly correct? What you are doing is allowing the air to get at the surface of the wine and by agitating or swirling the wine whilst in the decanter this simply allows the wine to oxidise slightly and within the hour or two before dinner to warm up a little which again, I think, enhances the flavour. It has become a little fashionable recently to drink red wines more chilled than of old but too cold and I personally don’t think that they offer the same flavours or enjoyment as when they are a little warmer. I’ve even heard of wines being taken from a cellar at the last moments before guests arrive and to warm them up a little they have either been placed on a radiator or even immersed in a bucket of hot water! It’s all in the planning!

The wines to be served with the dessert or cheese (or both), normally sweet or ‘sticky’ wines, really benefit from  a period in the fridge prior to the meal, not too long so they aren’t too cold but just enough so they complement the normally sweeter or savoury final course.

Get yourself into a pre-dinner wine routine. You, your guests and your wines will greatly appreciate it!!