Aerating technology

Wine “aerators” have become pretty popular recently. We don’t own one yet, and here’s why.
A) We already have 3 decanters, among a host of other wine related accessories-do we really need any more wine stuff?
B) I’m not entirely sold on them, not only on the price point, but I also wonder if something in the wine’s complexity is lost through a rapid process.


Sometimes technology is cool but sometimes it’s a good thing to keep with tradition and I don’t know where I stand on this one. I mean, even if we owned a Vinturi or whatever item we might pick up, we wouldn’t use it on an old Bordeaux no matter what, as too much air on an older wine can be a bad thing. They also say don’t decant Burgundies.....

Going along with that train of thought, wouldn’t it be feasible that so much air delivered so fast could deplete the delicacies and “hints of this and that” flavors that wines have? Or strip them of their details and nuances? True, some of the aerators are more delicate with the wine than others, and its not like they are meant for ALL wines, but some also are the equivalent of me taking a straw and blowing bubbles into the bottle. (well, minus the saliva ;)

But then again, I wonder, does it even matter how the air is delivered? Especially with younger heartier wines? It got me thinking.....if we decanted half the bottle in a traditional decanter, closed up the bottle, waited an hour, opened the rest of the bottle and poured it through one of those quick aerators, I wonder if we could tell the difference. (Yes, I know, the wine in the bottle was exposed to some air, so its not perfect but its not as much air exposure as going through and sitting in the decanter, so there might be some basis for comparison.)

What’s your guesses? Does it make a difference? Will technology win or will tradition? Post your thoughts and stay tuned, I will try to enlist the help of the Luces and D’s on this mission and maybe we’ll do a 3 way comparison of different aerators!!!

Squeaky Clean Decanters

Don’t you hate it when you have a nice decanter but no matter what it seems to have some sort of film, from the dried wine and/or hard water? Or maybe you’re not all that good about rinsing them out immediately and wine has dried and the “film” is somewhat mildew-esque; not officially mildew, just looks like more than water spots.... What do you do? Well, I’m not a huge fan of those decanter brushes or beads or whatever fad some wine mag is trying to sell me ….and vinegar never works for me. So, I turned to good ole bleach and it works well for me. Here’s what I do to get my decanter squeaky clean: 

• Take about 1/8c of bleach, swirl it around the bottom for a minute
• Fill decanter with hot water
• Let sit for 15-30 minutes
• Rinse at least 4-5 times
• When the decanter no longer smells of bleach, rinse once more.
• Wait until its TOTALLY dry, and use!

 (In case you're wondering, the excess rinsing and drying is to ensure your wine is bleach free!)

I'll take "Regular Decanters for $1000", Alex

OK Wine Enthusiast, I'm all for pretty decanters but I think this might be going too far.
A) It, uh, well, uh, is a rather phallic symbol, don't you think?
B) Really? I need an instruction video to use it? and
C) Wow, between the shape of the decanter and the description, I might need a cigarette.


This elegant Riedel Eve decanter is an artful masterpiece, as well as an extremely functional wine vessel. The Eve decanter features a generously tall silhouette of almost 20 inches, and the unique design is reminscent of an elegant upright cobra waiting to drink the wine you pour forth. The person serving from this decanter can create a dramatic presentation, as it is necessary to turn the vessel a specific way to pour. No worries, though. Beautifully packaged in Riedel's signature black and red box, the EVE decanter comes with an instructional DVD narrated by Maximilian Riedel, which explains the pouring technique and cleaning instructions. Delight your guests and serve them a lovely red wine in this visual masterpiece. Mouth-blown of 24% leaded crystal. Recommended to hand wash. The sensuous, serpentine curves of Riedel's new lead crystal, mouth blown Eve decanter are not only seductive, but functional. This design tour de force double decants your wine as it flows through the coiled shape. Serving wine becomes a performance as the decanter's twist and turns require the same movement by you - turning the decanter in a slow 360 degree rotation to 'charge' the decanter and allow the wine to pour. EVE is a decanter that also speaks - it emits a sound akin to the gurgle of the King Cobra as the wine makes its trip through the curvaceous swirl of glass.

Thrift Gift Thursday (all week): Decanter and glass set

I have had lots of decanter and decanter related accessories as part of the Thrifty Gift Thursday series, but I couldn't resist just one more. A decanter AND a 4 pc stemless glass set for $9.99 is just too way good of a deal not to post about!

Or, if you are partial to the stemmed glasses, here's a "duck style" decanter and 2 stemmed glasses for $14.99.
Standard shipping is just 4.95, but it is a bit more if you want expedited shipping.

Thrifty Gift Thursday: Wine / Picnic Sticks

Last summer I was at an outdoor jazz concert enjoying some wine with friends. I was constantly struggling with balancing my glass and my plate of food on the picnic blanket and enviously eyed my friend using these wine holders. These picnic sticks (wine sticks) will hold your bottle and glass when there's no table nearby. How fun! Of course, that good friend got me a set for my birthday, and I love them. For your outdoor drinking friends, here they are for a steal-just $12.95 for the set.

Thrify Gift Thursday (all week): Electric Wine Opener

When we registered for this electric wine opener, I wasn’t sure how often we’d use it. We were pretty used to the lever style opener (like the Rabbit) but I was really trying to register for some $20-ish gifts and so I put it on there. The truth is we use it all the time-for almost every bottle.

2 notes: 1) don’t use it on old wines, it'll likely shred the cork and 2)every now and then the synthetic corks are stubborn about coming out of the opener. (but that’s after the wine’s open, so no worries!) It’s a must for any party or wine tasting -it makes opening many bottles a snap. Since its probably one of the most used gifts we received, I absolutely must recommend it for others. It also comes with a foil cutter.

We have the Emerson one (above) and love it-its a steal for $19.99, but for the same price, if you like the stainless steel look, here's the Oster one for the same price.

Thrifty Gift Thursday (all week) Stocking Stuffers

Whether you need things to actually stuff in stockings, or if you just want to “top off” a gift of a nice bottle of wine with some fun wine accessories, here’s some ideas:

A red wine drinker with a decanter can always use a funnel, here’s one for $10:

A cooled sleeve is a must for a white wine drinker. I prefer ones with a little stretch, to accommodate a slender Sauvignon Blanc bottle or a big Chardonnay bottle. Here’s a good neoprene one for $12, w/ free shipping:

Wine tags can be expensive, but unless you’re like Lucy who has every item in her cellar memorized, they are a must for anyone with 50 bottles or more. Here’s 100 for $8.00. You can also get them in plain white. (order two-one for you and one for them!)

For the friend who always bring a bottle of wine wherever they go, here’s a neoprene travel bag for $6.99.


WineLights are fun-we like to fill them up with citronella oil and use them outside in the summer. It’s a pretty way to keep mosquitos away, or you can use regular lamp oil and use them inside. You can get these in stores, but they are usually $8-12 each- here they are for $3.99.

Thrifty Gift Thursday (all week): Wine Funnel

Decanters are great, but sometimes they are hard to pour out of (especially those big wide bottom ones). They are also hard to travel with, so if you have a bottle of wine you're bringing for a special occasion that you want to decant, a wine funnel might come in handy so you can put the wine back in the bottle. Of course, they are also handy for pouring into a decanter.

Here's one for $19.99 that comes with a filter and a stand. A great gift idea, in fact, I hope to be getting one for Christmas myself!

Thrifty Gift Thursday (all week): Personalized wine tote

Ok, dear readers. Because Christmas is around the corner, I wanted to give you a present. All week, Sunday through Friday, is "Thrifty Gift Thursday" to give you some last minute (well, last minute including shipping time) gift ideas for your wine loving friends, or as a present to yourself.

Who doesn’t love personalized stuff? This personalized tote is supercute and what I like best about it is that it doesn’t totally scream “I HAVE WINE WITH ME”. Which, sometimes, a regular wine tote is fine. I use ours often, such as when we’re going to a wine club meeting. But for those nights when you’re going over to a friend’s right after work and you don’t want the bottle sitting in your car, this is a nice low key bag that you could even sneak into work. Its on a ton of websites but with shipping this is the lowest overall price. (its 20.55+7.95 shipping)

Thrifty Gift Thursday: Wine Journal

This wine journal is a nice gift for your wine tasting friends. While I actually keep my tasting notes (when I remember) in my PDA for quicker referencing while in wine stores, I do love to see people bring out a wine journal at a wine club meeting or other tasting and jot down what they thought about the wines. There are tons of options in a variety of sizes and price ranges, but this one is $20.36, features a glossary of key wine terms, a "how to" section on wine tasting, and 15 wine label removers.

Thrifty Gift Thursday: Wine themed coasters

Even though stemmed wine glasses don’t usually sweat, for friends who have stemless wine glasses, or who value their furniture and just like to use coasters, here’s some coaster options.

For a classic look for $19.99:

An option for $17.99:
Another option for $14.99:




And finally, for your modern décor wine friends, another $14.99 option:

Of course, these items are heavy, so both sites have about a $7.50 shipping charge.

Duck, orange tea sauce and a Cal-Ital

Last night, I tried a new recipe- roasted duck with orange tea sauce. I was weary of the tea sauce, but it got really great reviews, so I tried it out. It was actually pretty good! Start by browning the skin of the duck, put in oven but keep the drippings. Stir in chicken broth, oj, 3 orange spiced black tea bags and reduce by half, and then stir in a bit of honey and butter. The sauce was a bit salty by itself, but tasted fantastic on the duck.

I read that duck goes well with Italian or Cal-ital wines, so we had it with the 2000 Pietra Santa Sassolino, which I’ve reviewed before. It was really great-the oak and tannins cut through the duck fat and it was just a fantastic meal.

Cheers to trying new recipes!

Thrifty Gift Thursday: Personalized Wine Stoppers

While Mr. Lush and I often finish bottles in one sitting, we hear others keep theirs for days, even a week, having a little glass here and there. For those friends, get the personalized wine stoppers. Here’s two options:

Use code PC15GFT to get this one for $12.71. I would opt to just get the monogram, (I think you just leave the other fields blank) versus the names, because it seems very wedding gift-y with the names, but that’s just me. Plus the solid initial makes it a gift for your single wine drinkers. The single monogram would look something like this.

For a funner but let flashy option, here’s a push botton one for $11.99.

Thrifty Gift Thursday: Decanter Dryer

Most wine lovers have a decanter, but those suckers sure are hard to get dry! Enter decanter dryer. Often they are $30 and up, but here's one for $12.99! (decanter not included) Its a bit on the simple side and will only work with the standard decanters, but it has the dish at the bottom for the water to collect, which is nice because that water has to go somewhere!

Thrify Gift Thursday: Port Decanter/Glass Set

This is an excellent gift for the port lover, as it comes with a decanter with a stopper, in addition to 4 glasses. However, its just a bit of a splurge item, according to Thrifty Gift Thursday guidelines. Its $34, however, you can save 15% on your order by using the coupon code COUPONSEVEN15, putting it at $28.90. Which really, is a steal, as this set looks like a $50 plus gift! And, to top it off, I bet the recipient will be so thankful they'll serve you some nice port, and who doesn't love a gift that keeps on giving??

Thrifty Gift Thursday: Personal Decanters

Even though I do love wine and wine accessories, I don’t have a lot of disposable income and thus don’t spend a lot of money on wine accessories. I’d rather buy a bottle of great of wine than to spend a $100 on an item to open, decant, or drink out of, so I deal shop and regisstered for a few neat things when we got married. Recently, I got a great deal on a decanter glass set and Mr. Lush gave me a very dirty look because we already have THREE decanters. I told him I wasn't sure if I was going to give it as a gift, but he still gave me the look and I realized I do get a tad bit carried away. I do so enjoy searching for good deals, but have issued a stop order on my wine accessory shopping through the end of the year. However, I know I’ll still run across some good deals and hopefully by sharing them with you, I can pretend its like I’m buying them. So, from now through the end of the year, I’m going to feature a thrifty gift for your wine loving friends, or something to buy yourself this holiday season. The gifts will be wine related and priced under (or around) $25. Disclaimer: there might be one that sneaks through that’s over the price range, but if so, it would be a spectacular deal or a really great gift idea.

First up are a set of 4 personal decanters for $20. Typically, I find WE stuff to be over priced, but wouldn’t these be great? Either to use as a personal decanter, or to just not clutter up the table with a big decanter that just a glass or so left in it.

Nose worthy wine glasses

As president and founder of a wine club, I often get link exchange requests from wine-related companies. While I typically turn them down because I don’t want our club website cluttered with ads, I still look at the products. I recently received a link request for http://www.greatestwineglass.com/. Well, that just seems like an interesting site name, don’t you think? I go on the website and was surprised to see this:

At this point, I just don’t know what to think of it. In theory, it seems like a good idea to allow your nose to be immersed in the wine glass, with the rest of the glass sort of trapping in the aromas. However in practice….hmm, I just don’t know and I probably won’t know because they are having a introductory sale for $54 per glass. That’s a lot. We don’t own Riedel glasses or anything close. I think the most expensive glasses we own were a wedding gift and were probably maybe $10 each. So to jump to $54 per glass….well, I just don’t see it happening.

If I could afford to pay $54 per glass, I’m not sure I would. One thing I like to do with my wine is swish around my glass to allow it to get some more air. With a chunk of the glass gone on one side, that pretty much eliminates my swishing and swirling, unless I want to only drink an ounce at a time, or want to be covered in wine.

I will note that for some wines, the aroma is the best part and is even better than the taste, so for those wines, this glass could be perfect. As for the design, I’m sure its well rounded and not jagged, they appear to be hand made, which would justify the price, for those willing to pay it. For now it will have to be one of things I talk about, but will never purchase. I won’t covet it, but will sort of wish I could buy it, just for the novelty of it.

All the wrong temps

Recently, my friend Lucy blogged about being served wine at less than ideal temperatures. Which, evidently, based on her comments, my experience, and those who commented on her blog, is a frequent happening. Really, as she said, if we’re paying a premium for a bottle of wine, I expect it to be served at the idea temperature for that wine. (that means I want my sparklings iced for a few minutes and my pinots colder than cabs…)

But I’m going to take this one step further…if you’re a wine bar, or a high class restaurant with many bottles on your list in the $200-400 range (or higher) and you aren’t serving it at the correct temperature that means you aren’t storing at the correct temperature. So, should I ever have $1000+ to spend on a bottle of Harlan Estates, (go Powerball) I expect it to have been stored in ideal, climate controlled area so it will not be spoiled. And if it is spoiled, is it because that "just happens sometimes" or because they stored it incorrectly??

Furthermore, lets talk about wine stores and how even those are room temp. Perhaps it’s a regional thing, who knows, but all the wine shops here are the same temp as a clothing store. Not that I expect wine shops to be 55 degrees, but perhaps less than 70 would be nice. Even "grocery store temp" would be fine. Or even have a high end room, housing things above a certain price point, that’s more temp controlled?

I guess it baffles me that we as consumers, are supposed to know all the rules about wine serving and storing temps, but those who sell us the wine can totally disregard them.

Wine tasting notes

Ok, at the risk of sounding dorky, I keep track of all wines we taste on my PDA. Well, correction, I USED to keep track. At first it was great, but then it got a bit old. (Probably about the time we did all the wedding wine tastings) Originally, in the pre-PDA days we kept a notebook. But when we got to around 100w wines, we realized did we really want to flip through tons of pages in a store to find if we liked a wine? So, it was enough to push me over to into the PDA world. Which, I do love it and I love the fact I have scores on all my wines.

Software-After much searching, I realized I didn’t care for really anything out there- not even the popular wine magazines had exactly what I wanted and it was $50+. So, we downloaded WineMate for free. It lets you enter scores as well as keep tabs on your cellar (using the term “Cellar” loosely-we have maybe 15 bottles we’re keeping for 2+ more years) Its not perfect, but it was free. It’s easily searchable by varietal, winery, region, etc and lets you sort those results by score as well. So if I want to know what my favorite Chardonnays I’ve ever had are, I can find out in a few strokes.

I have found its fairly easy to keep track of wines we have that we like (minus of course parties or tasting events) but its not so easy to remember if we didn't like something. I have found myself looking at a bottle, swearing we’ve had it, but not remembering if it was just “ok” or if we didn’t like it. So, I have renewed interesst in keeping mine up to date-we’re at about 400 tasting records and once I add in wine club shipments and the wedding wine tastings, we’ll probably be at around 450.

However, even my most planning and organized friend, Lucy, doesn’t keep hers up to date and most people I know still use notebooks if anything at all. So my question is this- do we really drink that much more wine than everyone or does everyone keep their detailed notekeeping a secret?? (or do people really keep all that information in their heads??)

The newest addition to the Lush Family

No, don’t fear fellow readers. Your WineLush is not expecting. Rather we got a new wine chiller. Previously we had two Avanti wine fridges, one for white, one for red. Pros: cheap, quiet, no vibration. Cons: since they don’t use standard refrigeration, they don’t get as cold. In the winter, its not a big deal, but in the dead heat of the summer, when the house is warmer, the coldest temp they can get to might be 60. Still within storing temps, but you certainly can’t pull a bottle of white out and drink it, and frankly, that’s what you want in the dead heat of the summer. Oh, and one more con-one of them broke. Rather large con, eh?

So, here we are, one fridge down, deciding what to do. After doing that first round of initial internet shopping, we took a break for the Zoo play day. While at the wine shop, we noticed they were selling a 2-3 yr old commercial grade wine chiller for $300 (retail over $1000). Great deal, but there’s two facts to keep in mind. 1) we just became Mr. and Mrs. Wine Lush, thus still have wedding expenses to pay off and 2) more money on wine fridge = less money to spend on wine. Hmm. So we think about it. Less than 2 days later we call, wine fridge is sold. We are saddened but are confident we will get past it. Many more wine fridges that need our love.

Then….she calls and said the person who was supposed to buy it didn’t show up and do we want it. I tell her I’ll get back to her soon. Excitement builds, but Mr. Lush is at work and I can’t get ahold of him. What to do? Being recently married, we haven’t quite worked out the rules of acceptable independent spending. Yes, we should talk about spending $300. But, we did already, right, last week when we decided to get it? But a week later- does that still count? Argghh. Then she calls again and says that someone else wants it and we need to make a decision pronto. Oh no. What to do!!!

Don’t fret- we did indeed end up getting the fridge and are still married, so it’s a happy ending.

About the fridge- LOVE IT. Its 100 bottle, dual temp, digital. One small con-I don’t care for the way the bottles set-its bottom of bottle towards the door. So, I not only have no use for all my cute wine tags, but its also hard to see what’s what.

But, it works, so it’s the best wine chiller ever.