LA Times on Air and Wine

Just a quick note to point out my story on Air and Wine in the Los Angeles Times.

A couple outtakes from the story:

* One of the main mercaptans responsible for preventing us from immediately enjoying the aromas of wine is methyl mercaptan, which is also what gives stinky cheese its stink and bad breath its badness. In fact, we all carry methyl mercaptan in our bloodstream all the time, and we're just waiting for a time and a place. Cheery thought, yes?

* Vinturi now makes a red-wine and a white-wine model. I like the Vinturi; in fact, I used it last night to open up a 2006 Barton & Guestier Pouilly-Fuisse, which went from smelling like gym floor cement to buttered toast in less than a minute after being Vinturi-ed into a decanter. (I had the Pouilly-Fuisse with some amazing white asparagus that I got from Germany -- I opened a Sauvignon Blanc initially, but it was way to strong for the delicate spargel.) However, I don't really see the difference between the white and red wine models, and the producer wasn't forthcoming with it, so I think it's just an excuse to sell one more product to people who already like it.

* Decanter size and shape does matter, but just as glass size and shape matter. Don't overthink it: If you want a lot of air fast, use a big decanter. That said, my personal favorite decanter (I have four or five) is a very compact Riedel model which I like not because it has a great amount of surface area, but because it fits easily in my freezer or refrigerator -- great for chilling down whites while they aerate.

* After writing the article, I had the opportunity to do performance testing on the Eisch "breathable" glass, and the results were surprising. I'll do a full posting on this next week.