Vinturi.org.uk is the exclusive distributor of the Vinturi product and other wine related decanting accessories in the UK. Please call us on 0845 500 1215 for further details.
A lesson in Vineyard keeping
October 14th, 2009
We at Vinturi are pretty serious about wine. We appreciate taste, texture and aroma, particularly when we have such a
great gadget to do the aeration for us. Opening a bottle of something delicious is a real treat- but what about the people who work so hard to get it ready for us to drink? It’s hard work keeping and maintaining the vineyard, and keeping the grapes in great condition to make great wine.
The weather is often the owner’s nemesis, with wet conditions bringing risk of disease which can easily spread between crops, and potentially wipe out a year’s hard work. It’s not uncommon for a team of only six or seven workers to be tending to around ninety acres of land, and spraying and pruning tens of thousands of vines by hand. Not for the faint hearted, we’re sure you’ll agree. When the time comes to pick the crop, more workers will be brought in to help out- between fifty and a hundred is an average. Each vine is tasted to determine when it’s ready for harvest, all to make sure we get the very best in our glass.
Our job is the easy part- we just provide the tool, the Vinturi, you need to get the very best flavours from a newly open bottle, without having to wait any longer.
Burglar is caught after falling into wine stupor
October 7th, 2009
We’ve heard of people doing some silly things in our time, but this little gem we found in the news recently has to be one of the best.
We read of how Mr Michael Dwyer, whilst attempting to burgle a flat in Cambridge, decided to take a little taste of wine from an open bottle he found in the kitchen. On top of the alcohol he had already consumed, Dwyer then promptly fell asleep on the sofa, only for the victim to return home and call the police, who arrived to arrest him.
Of course, we all enjoy a lovely glass of wine at the end of the day to unwind and relax into our evening after work, but we must say that we at Vinturi are totally behind healthy drinking habits, and recommend knowing your limit before you get to the same place that our friend Mr Dwyer did.
Once you’re informed, you can enjoy a beautiful red wine, which has had the opportunity to aerate with the fantastic Vinturi- a hassle free way to allow the natural aromas and flavours in the wine to be experienced at their full.
If you would like any information on units and the government guidelines/recommended daily allowances for men and women, then all this and more information can be found at the Drink Aware site.
Wine Aeration and the Vinturi
May 9th, 2009
Aeration (also called aerification) is the process by which air is circulated through, mixed with or dissolved in a liquid or substance. When applied to wine it is easy to see how a traditional decanter can serve this purpose if the wine is poured into the decanter in the correct way.
By maximising your wines exposure with air, the wine will typically warm up and the wine’s aromas will open up, the flavor profile will soften and mellow out a bit and the overall flavor characteristics should improve very quickly.
Some wines benefit more from Wine Aeration that others – and it is often quoted that “the more tannins a wine has the more time it will need to aerate”. Lighter-bodied red wines that have lower tannin levels, will need little if any time to breathe.
Wine Aeration in a Dinner Party Setting
Let’s put wine aeration into a typical suburban, middle class setting – the first bottle of wine of an evening is given the decanter treatment by the host who opens his best bottle of wine well in advance of guests arrival. This bottle is aerated by the initial process of pouring the wine from the bottle into the decanter.
So guests arrive – with a few bottles of wine of a value that lends them to aeration – and are treated to a glass of champagne and nibbles. The light stuff aside the process of feasting begins and the men and a couple of ladies move onto the reds to compliment their lamb. The first bottle of decanted and aerated wine is consumed – amid a flurry compliments to the hosts – with the pouring of the glasses.
This is typically where the Vinturi comes in – the advantage of the Vinturi is that it allows for fairly immediate wine aeration. Thus rather than having to decant and wait for the next bottles of wine, they can simply be poured through the Vinturi straight into the glasses of guests. The Vinturi allows for wine aeration without the wait – and ensures that all the red wine for your dinner party is optimally served.
For around a £35 investment in a Vinturi you can guarantee that all the red wine you drink is improved. So if over your remaining years on this planet you drink 35 bottles of red wine, you are simply paying a supplement of £1 per bottle. Drink more and the cost obviously diminishes. A Vinturi for wine aeration is essential for the chattering middle classes and all.
If you have any questions please call us on 0845 500 4455 or email contact@vinturi.org.uk. You can purchase a Vinturi through our main Vinturi website and our blog site.
The Ultimate Travel Wine Decanter – The Vinturi
April 15th, 2009
Ok – so we admit that it isn’t the largest of product categories used in modern retailing – but we aim to prove to you that “Travel Wine Decanters” should be important to all lovers of wine.
Wine Decanting At Restaurants
Interestingly according the British consumer retail index people spend an average of three times the amount of money on wine they purchase at restaurants in comparison with wines for their homes. Admittedly some of this difference lies in the difference between restaurant and retailer prices – but the fact remains we spend more on higher quality wines when we are out.
So we spend more – but is the wine as well looked after as it would be within your home. Most restaurants of certain quality do invest in the correct equipment to store the wine and ensure that it is served at the correct temperature. And a lot of restaurants invest large sums of money on vacuum pumps for bottles used to serve wine by the glass. However rarely – if at all – will a restaurant use or provide customers with a decanter. Thus the Vinturi serves purpose for wine lovers as a portable wine decanter.
Our gambit is that the Vinturi will improve every glass of wine that you have when you dine out.
Wine consumed outdoors needs a travel wine decanter
The same principle above applies but in this case you have no chance to use a wine decanter. The Vinturi package includes a travel pounch which allows it to be easily packed and stored away. To this end we have bribed the bosses father to take a Vinturi on his five week journey through the French canals. We have requested regular photos and feedback from the French and finally the Italian general public when he spends the summer touring the west coast of Italy.
The Vinturi package can be purchased through www.vinturi.org.uk or please call 0845 500 1215.
Vinturi’s Venturi Effect
April 13th, 2009
The Vinturi is a very recent application of the Venturi Effect which was discovered over three hundred years ago by the Italian physicist, Giovanni Battista Venturi (1746 – 1822). Not only did Venturi discover and work on quantifying the effect, he was also the first person to apply the effect to an invention. Not one to miss personal branding, these were eponomously called the Venturi pump and the Venturi tube.
How does the Vinturi aerate wine?
April 9th, 2009
Wine Needs to breathe – The Vinturi aerates it for you.
Wine which has been aerated tastes better – and therefore Wine Aeration has always been an process that wine buffs has spent time on. The Vinturi allows people to aerate wine without the use of decanters and thereby allows customers to enjoy aerated wine all evening – rather than simply the first decanted bottle.
The whole concept of letting wine breathe, or aerate, is simply maximizing your wine’s exposure to the surrounding air. By allowing wine to mix and mingle with air, the wine will typically warm up and the wine’s aromas will open up, the flavor profile will soften and mellow out a bit and the overall flavor characteristics should improve.
In general, people can easily decide if wine needs aeration. The rule of thumb to use is regarding tannins. The more tannins a wine has the it will benefit from aeration. Lighter-bodied red wines that have lower tannin levels, will need less aeration.
Vinturi’s patent pending design speeds up this aeration process with ease and convenience. Perfect aeration in the time it takes to pour a glass. Customers in the UK can purchase the Vinturi by using our main website purchase page.
How is the Vinturi packaged?
April 5th, 2009
Within the Vinturi package we sell is a Vinturi, no-drip stand, and travel pouch. It comes in a full retail box with instructions. Please click on the video below for full details.
Does White wine need aerating or decanting?
April 5th, 2009
We need to be clear on a couple of things before we start this article. Definitions are important.
Wine Decanting is a traditional process useful when dealing with certain red wines to ensure that no sediment from the bottle. This was the tradional reason for having a wine decanter in your house.
In most modern winemaking, the need to decant for this purpose has been significantly reduced to where not as many wines produce a significant amount of sediment as they age.
Wine Aeration is often a by-product of using a wine decanter. By bringing wine out of the bottle and mixing air through the wine the decanter mimics the effects of swirling the wine glass to stimulate the movement of molecules in the wine to trigger the release of more aroma compounds. This is the exact process that the Vinturi mimics.
Given the definitions there is never a reason to decant white wine as it has no sediment in it. Thus the important question is whether white wine will benefit from Aeration.
The answer is that white wine does not generally benefit from aerating. Some white wines, such as a young Mersault or Chablis from France that are made to age, would probably benefit greatly by being decanted. But most of the white wines we drink are made to drink a bit younger, and decanting them would not offer significant benefits. It really is up
Why Does a Wine Need Decanting?
March 26th, 2009
In times gone by, before so many wines were routinely fined and filtered to a crystal clear state, it was quite common for wines poured from both barrel and bottle to contain a considerable degree of solid matter. In order to avoid bringing an unsightly looking wine to the table, it was quite the norm to decant the wine into a suitably resplendent receptacle. The need for such a receptacle led to the development of the many and varied elegant decanters which are available today.
Most wines on the shelves today, however, have no real need for decanting. The winemaking process ensures the wine is thoroughly clarified (even if it may mean stripping the wine of some of its flavour) before it is bottled, by a process of fining (passing egg whites, bentonite clay or other unsavoury substances through the fine to collect solid matter) and mechanical filtration. Although these wines are often best served from the bottle (after all, you’ve paid for the label), many others still benefit from decanting.
Wines which have aged in bottle, typically red wines rather than white, will generally throw a sediment by perhaps ten years of age or more. Not only is this sediment displeasing to the eye, it can also be quite unpleasant in the mouth. More than any other wines, these are the ones that deserve decanting. Young wines also benefit from decanting, although the aim is not to take the wine off its sediment (there is rarely any such sediment in young wines), but rather to aerate the wine. The action of decanting itself, and the large surface area in contact with the air in the decanter, alters the wine, softening its youthful bite and encouraging the development of the more complex aromas that normally develop with years in bottle. For this reason even inexpensive wines plucked from the shelves of the local supermarket can benefit from decanting, if a first taste reveals a tannic, grippy, youthful structure.
The Vinturi makes wine decanting simple.
Serving wine at the correct temperature
February 28th, 2009
The temperature at which a wine is served is very important. White wine should be chilled and red wine served warmer. However, wine served either too cold or too warm can lose a lot in terms of quality and in particular its aroma. The Vinturi cannot work miracles on wine that is not at the correct temperature.
It is commonly heard that red wine should be served at room temperature, this was true centuries ago but not in today’s central heated houses. A good red wine should be served at somewhere between 14c and 18c. In most cases unless the red wine is stored in a cellar or somewhere cool it would benefit from half and hour in the fridge before serving.
When attempting to bring a wine to a desired temperature there are also many things to keep in mind. If you wish too cool a wine more quickly then using a fridge a bucket of ice and water will also work. But this will only take around 5 minutes and it can quickly bring the bottle down to 0c ruining the wine. If you wish to warm a bottle it must be done gently. Leaving the bottle near a radiator or open fire is a recipe for disaster. It can result to the wine becoming thick and soupy and generally not nice. By holding the bottle in your hands and warming it gently is the ideal method.