Open a bottle of red, pour straight away, and the first mouthful is tight and tannic — not because the wine is bad, but because it has been shut in glass for years and has had no air. This sits in the neck of the bottle and gives it that air in the second it takes to fill your glass.
No carafe to fill. No hour of waiting. No lifting a heavy bottle over somebody's glass. Push it into the neck, hold the glass under the spout, press the top.
The hour a decanter needs, and the hour you do not have
You already know decanting works. The problem is when. You want a glass at seven and the wine is ready at eight, so either you plan the evening around a jug or you drink it as it comes and accept that the first two glasses were the worst in the bottle.
The alternatives are no better. A pour-through funnel splashes and drips down the neck. A swirl in the glass does almost nothing. And a decanter has to be washed, dried and stored, which is why most of them live at the back of a cupboard.
What happens in the second between the bottle and the glass
A pump inside the body draws wine up a tube from the bottom of the bottle. On its way out through the clear spout it passes an air inlet, and air is injected into the stream, breaking it into fine bubbles the whole length of the spout. What lands in your glass has already had the air a decanter takes an hour to give it. The bottle itself is never pressurized, so nothing is left fizzing after you walk away.
And if you would rather not aerate — a delicate white, an older bottle that does not want the help — there is a slider on top of the spout marked off and on. Close it and the same button just pours.
Where the cheaper ones cut the corner
Three things separate this from the ten-dollar version of the same idea. The cheap ones pump air into the bottle and push the wine out with pressure, which aerates unevenly and leaves the bottle under pressure. They use a mechanical valve, which is the part that starts dripping. And they aerate every pour whether you want it or not, because there is nothing to switch off.
This one injects air into the stream rather than the bottle, closes with a solenoid valve, and lets you choose. It runs quietly enough to talk over, under 75 dB.
Which of the three to pick
The two battery models run on batteries, which are not included, and pour around thirty bottles before they need changing. The black one is glossy with a domed top; the silver one is straight sided with a brushed finish. The rechargeable model charges over USB instead, and comes with a rigid three-part tube graduated at 12, 24 and 34 cm for whatever depth of bottle you have open. Add the vacuum stopper if you rarely finish a bottle in one sitting, and the cork remover with it if you would rather stop wrestling with a corkscrew.
Whichever you pick, the bottle stays on the table and the glass fills itself.
Specifications
Dimensions: 1.8 x 4.1 in (4.6 x 10.4 cm)
Material: ABS, stainless steel and food-contact acrylic
Power, Black Battery and Silver Battery: battery powered, batteries not included
Power, Black Rechargeable: built-in battery, charged with the supplied USB cable
Battery life, battery models: around 30 bottles of 750 ml from a fresh set of batteries
Aeration: switchable at the spout, marked off and on
Valve: solenoid
Working noise: under 75 dB
Spout: clear food-contact acrylic, splash proof
Tube, battery models: soft silicone
Tube, Black Rechargeable: rigid three-section, graduated 12, 24 and 34 cm
Fits: standard 750 ml wine bottles
Package Includes
1x Electric Wine Aerator and Dispenser
1x Tube
1x USB Charging Cable, Black Rechargeable only
1x Vacuum Bottle Stopper, with the stopper and set options only
1x Air Pressure Cork Remover, with the set option only