Hyper-decanting - Anyone try it?

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DeepCSweede

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I just read an article in the Chicago Tribune about decanting wines in a blender to aerate evenly through the whole batch in just a few minutes. They stated that they did a blind taste test with wine industry professionals and sommeliers and they wholeheartedly preferred the hyper-aerated ones. Just wondering if anyone has tried it?
 
I've been meaning to since I read about it in Modernist cuisine a couple years back, but always space it off.
 
Never tried it. Tho' the idea of putting a great wine in a bloody blender offends my sensibilities and sense of, probably dated, propriety. Makes perfect sense tho'.
 
I haven't tried it, but I will the next chance I get. I guess the Mollydooker shake is basically the same thing, just a bit less extreme.

k.
 
Do it all the time in the Blendtec. Maybe hit it with a 10 second very high blast of the blender. It creates an effervescent mix in the wine for a few seconds. Definitely opens the wine and softens the tannins a bit. I think it it oxygenates the wine vs oxidizes the wine. None of my wine friends/snobs go for it though. They think I'm a nut blending my 2000 Haunt Bergey
 
Another case of 'How it's done', as opposed to a different -and probably-better way of doing it. It's more 'refined' to put it in a crystal decanter and wait an hour, and then portion it into a Reidel glass shaped according to the varietal, then swirl and cup and inhale before every taste... I'm all for revering the time, effort, aging, subtlety, nuances, blah blah blah- but dammit- it's supposed to get you drunk!
 
I use an aerator a lot, but the idea of putting a nice wine in a blender-- I think not.
 
Tradition, Tradition!! Seriously I doubt that it actually oxygenates, and I don't care for overly oxidized wines. That's why red wines go bad after a day unless surrounded by inert gas. But please do whatever you want with yours.......
 
A friend of mine does that when he kills Aussie Shiraz in its infancy and I thought he had gone mad, but he swears by it. I never tried it myself. If I only knew in what storage box the blender was...

Stefan
 
Obviously if you're going to use this method it involves ingesting the wine within hours of using said procedure. Excess oxidation kills wines overnight. Not within hours. If you're only cracking a bottle for a glass or two, the gas method of preservation is best in my opinion.
 
I wonder how that process would work with some Wild Turkey 101?
 
I wonder how that process would work with some Wild Turkey 101?

Probably not Wild Turkey. But I was thinking about trying it with a wheated bourbon, which often benefit from some air. Maker's Mark, Larceny, Old Weller Antique, Weller 12 year old, Jefferson's Presidential Select, any of the Pappy Van Winkles, William Larue Weller, some of the Vintage and older Michter's releases, etc. Probably should try it with some OWA or W12 first though, just cost wise. A common practice for Weller 12 is to save the empty bottle of the one you just finished and when you get a new one, put half of it in the empty bottle. Then let them sit for weeks or months or whatever and let them oxidize or oxygenates or whatever it is that happens to them. Then consume.
 
Whatever! Instead of needless rude childish comments, perhaps you could try simply being ok that someone has a different opinion.

FYI. I graduated with distinction from an Ivy League College and majored in molecular biology followed by a top medical school.
 
Probably not Wild Turkey. But I was thinking about trying it with a wheated bourbon, which often benefit from some air. Maker's Mark, Larceny, Old Weller Antique, Weller 12 year old, Jefferson's Presidential Select, any of the Pappy Van Winkles, William Larue Weller, some of the Vintage and older Michter's releases, etc. Probably should try it with some OWA or W12 first though, just cost wise. A common practice for Weller 12 is to save the empty bottle of the one you just finished and when you get a new one, put half of it in the empty bottle. Then let them sit for weeks or months or whatever and let them oxidize or oxygenates or whatever it is that happens to them. Then consume.

Woah... First I've heard of oxygenating high spirits in this manner. Very intriguing...
 
I have not heard of it either, but when I read this thread today I thought of wheated bourbons. Like I said, I will try it with something cheap like Makers, OWA or Larceny before moving on to the expensive stuff.
 
I have not heard of it either, but when I read this thread today I thought of wheated bourbons. Like I said, I will try it with something cheap like Makers, OWA or Larceny before moving on to the expensive stuff.

It makes sense, I always throw a small splash in my single malts. Literally a splash. Brings forth the back notes, and tones down the fiery frontness, that tends to overwhelm the full palate experience.
 
So, should I bring my 1975 Arbeg with a splash of water to drinking temperature in a Vitamix? ;) Not that I have a Vitamix, and I might have to sell the Ardbeg to afford one...

Stefan
 
Oxygen saturation in water will occur somewhere between 6 and 8 parts per million (this number depends upon temperature, salinity and elevation). This means that the water molecules have absorbed as much oxygen as they can easily hold under the present conditions. Any oxygen added beyond this point will be released back into the atmosphere with the least amount of disturbance in the water. Thus I doubt that putting wine in a blender adds more oxygen than a usual aerator. It will however, oxidize the wine and potentially heat it up. Unless there are specific molecules in the wine that have an affinity for oxygen, like hemoglobin in our blood, any oxygen added above the saturation point will just bubble up.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the whole point is to oxidize the wine(after a certain point the oxidation starts to produce a negative result obviously), which is why a flat bottom decanter is typically seen as the preferred method for decanting. If you put said wine into a blender you're effectively folding the wine at high speeds and exposing a greater amount of the wine molecules to oxygen at an accelerated rate...?
 
Oxygen saturation in water will occur somewhere between 6 and 8 parts per million (this number depends upon temperature, salinity and elevation). This means that the water molecules have absorbed as much oxygen as they can easily hold under the present conditions. Any oxygen added beyond this point will be released back into the atmosphere with the least amount of disturbance in the water. Thus I doubt that putting wine in a blender adds more oxygen than a usual aerator. It will however, oxidize the wine and potentially heat it up. Unless there are specific molecules in the wine that have an affinity for oxygen, like hemoglobin in our blood, any oxygen added above the saturation point will just bubble up.

polyphenoloxidase. that is just one compound. fermentation products are very complex.
 
Whatever! Instead of needless rude childish comments, perhaps you could try simply being ok that someone has a different opinion.

FYI. I graduated with distinction from an Ivy League College and majored in molecular biology followed by a top medical school.

yet you don't understand mechanical aeration. oxygen absorption by the medium is simply one aspect of aerating wine. as oxygen slowly bubbles out of suspension, compounds are liberated from the fluid, which is probably why my double-blind wine aeration experiments have shown that the greatest difference is on the nose.

I used to work for Jerry Lingrel and Peter Stambrook, for what it's worth.
 
If you put said wine into a blender you're effectively folding the wine at high speeds and exposing a greater amount of the wine molecules to oxygen at an accelerated rate...?

of course, which is why you can make mayo in a blender quite quickly, once the initial emulsion is set.
 
There comes a point in the life of every process where it becomes necessary to shoot the engineers and begin production.

Try it and drink whatever you like. Sheesh.
 

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