Comments on: Tim Ferriss explains how to hyperdecant wine

By: Pablo Cortazar

Pablo Cortazar — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:56:00 +0000

am I the only one who thinks Tim Ferris looks extremely thin? He’s lost a lot of weight and muscle tone. One would think writing a book on cooking he’d at least stay a certain weight? just worried for him.

By: drw2

drw2 — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:21:00 +0000

He inspired me to try something similar but different – I used my french press coffee maker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5KXVmGxHLg&feature=youtu.be

By: caspar1999

caspar1999 — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 23:48:00 +0000

I am so glad to see America’s greatest 21st-century snake oil merchant continue his meteoric rise. Truly, this is the expert we deserve! No one generates more laughs.

By: coffeemoon

coffeemoon — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:36:00 +0000

For those of you who’d like to keep it old school, here’s the hidden technology behind the decanter . If you only wanted to expose the top surface of the wine to air/oxygen, you could simply decant it in a bowl/pot/whatever. But:
The shape of the decanter allows you tilt it sideways (say 30 deg) and pour smoothly from the bottle (tilting the bottle only as far that the wine level does not fill the neck completely, thus allowing air to flow in) so that the wine flows onto the tilted neck of the decanter. The wine will now spread out widely (and thinly) over the bellowing surface of the decanter, before it reaches the bottom. Therefor the whole contents of the bottle will be exposed to air, without disturbing the wine as the magic mixer stick does.
Voila!

By: Stooney

Stooney — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:46:00 +0000

SamSam, you seem like a smart person, I really mean that!
But I don’t need to poke my eye with my finger to know it would hurt. And wine getting all frothy and muddy after being treated with a blender is evidence enough for me to never even try it.
I am right now enjoying a bottle of really good but also rather inexpensive wine from Italy (after all it’s already nighttime here). I opened it at 7 p.m. and put it into a carafe. One hour later i started drinking and enjoying it.
I may be a snob – or full of faith and superstition – but that’s the way wine is supposed to be handled … I am saying that even at the risk that you be accusing me even more of said superstition.
Like you said, absolutely brilliant wines are made in the USA, especially in California, as well as in Chile, Australia, South Africa and many other countries outside of Europe. No argument about that.
But I am sure that in any of those countries, winemakers would strongly subject to their wines being treated like that.
Wine – for me – is not just booze. It’s an experience, as posh and upperclass this may sound to you.
The whole point is NOT to have it drinkable in a jiffy. It takes years until it’s matured so why rush it once the bottle is opened?
You may say I am heading in some other direction now, but even if blending it *would* have the same effect as letting it breathe naturally (which I doubt), it’d still be a shame.
And just so no question is left open: No, I’m neither a member of the upperclass nor am I rich in any way.
And I don’t know if it would ruin pasta or not, but it certainly takes the water much longer to reach the boiling point if you add the salt first, so it actually IS better to add it just before the pasta ;-)

By: R_Young

R_Young — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:12:00 +0000

That reply…. I don’t really know the subject matter well enough to judge the accuracy, but the prose alone…

I’m tempted to call it brilliant, damn the risk of coming across as a neophyte.

By: SamSam

SamSam — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:25:00 +0000

I’m sorry, but you are still relying on faith, not on actual reason.

This all sounds very much like the famous “judgement of Paris,” when the elite of the wine world simply could not even conceive that American wines might be worth drinking, let alone beat French wines, and then were outraged to discover that they had awarded higher marks to the American wines after tasting them blind. Again, the pre-judgement was on blind faith alone, but it was a faith very strongly felt, and the judges initially thought that the tasting would be a waste of time.

Again, you may well be right, but without people tasting this blind, these kinds of criticisms without evidence (or even any explanation, beyond the fact that they “profit from being handled with care”) are like the chef who screams that putting the salt in the water before the water has boiled will ruin the pasta.

By: Bill Reals

Bill Reals — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:45:00 +0000

I’m going to try this tonight on my magnetic stir plate and my Erlenmeyer flask just to take my wine snobbery to a whole new level.

We aerate our wines but only because my wife likes to soften the tannins that are usually present in heavier Bordeaux varietals. The easiest way I’ve found is to pour off about a glass, which I drink, and then re-cork and shake the hell out of the bottle.

By: Quiche de Resistance

Quiche de Resistance — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:38:00 +0000

By: Stooney

Stooney — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:35:00 +0000

Neither faith nor superstition. I am not in the wine-business myself, but I live near one of the best wine-regions in one of the best wine-countries. I am not a chi-chi “Expert”, but I know a thing or two about wine, as well as some winemakers.
While red wine – even the “good” ones absolutely profit from letting them breathe for while, they also profit from being handled with care. I can’t think of anything more mindless and outright barbaric that stirring a fine wine with any appliance, be it a blender or anything else as well as drinking it trough a straw (WTF ??)
Either those people have never tasted a fine wine or they are just to ignorant to care. If you don’t have the time to let the wine do it’s breathing on it’s own, you might be better off drinking just beer.
I know some winemakers who would hurt you physically if you’d to that to their wine. Literally!

By: SamSam

SamSam — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:16:00 +0000

You may be right, but, then again, have you tried this method?

It used to be that Europe was the center of the Enlightenment, where men had learned to substitute reason and science for blind faith and superstition.

I guess when it comes to wine, though, faith and superstition still rule…

By: gerardwhelan

gerardwhelan — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:22:00 +0000

I drink with a straw and aerate as I go. and when I was a waiter, I used to bring the straw to the table and just blow into people’s drinks. folks get used to it once they see how beneficial it is to their wine experience. i got BIG tips.

By: Guest

Guest — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:04:00 +0000

Understood. I can’t stand getting a mouthful of sediment myself. I was just concerned about the winemaking practices of whomever’s stuff you were drinking. Can’t have rat-ass in the Merlot.

By: awjt

awjt — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:28:00 +0000

That’s how I feel. A great bottle doesn’t need this crap. Great bottles can be had at $10! Totally possible. I set my glass out to warm up, sometimes next to the wood stove, and then you can just smell all the great stuff evaporating when it warms up a bit. It’s TEMP not Oxygenation.

By: Beanolini

Beanolini — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:39:00 +0000

Personally, I prefer wine without a head on it. The real geek solution for this would surely be to use a magnetic stirrer. Bonus points if you make your own stirrer from an old CPU fan and/or use an Arduino to control it.

By: cdh1971

cdh1971 — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:13:00 +0000

Ripple?

By: cdh1971

cdh1971 — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:12:00 +0000

….

By: Stooney

Stooney — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:40:00 +0000

Forgive me for sounding prejudiced, but ONLY an American could come up with an idea like that!
You can only be this ignorant if you dont have the least bit of knowledge or respect for wine. Somewhere, a Winemaker just died!
Tim Ferriss (and all who applaud him), you are a total moron and an epic fail!
You should not be allowed to have wine again. Ever!

By: Benjamin Terry

Benjamin Terry — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:20:00 +0000

This is a prime example of what the kids call “Player hatin’”.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 05:55:00 +0000

No rat, no flavor. But I don’t want the solids.

By: kringlebertfistyebuns

kringlebertfistyebuns — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 05:38:00 +0000

Rodent…parts…?

What wine are you drinking, Ripple?

By: Casey

Casey — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:21:00 +0000

That is not “three hours of decanting in a few seconds” That is a load of horseshit.

Good red wines do not need to “breath”, all they need is to be raised to room temperature.

All that agitation is driving off the aromatics that make a wine unique.

This annoys me because I’m a professional in this exact industry. I would kick the crap out of someone who did that to my wine.

WTF?

By: awjt

awjt — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:09:00 +0000

I like to *hic* check my posts. If it’s sharp and pointy then a re-read might do it *hic* good. If my post was sharp and pointy, a re-read might *hic* do it good. I also like to check my posts t *hic* o see if they are sharp and pointy, and if so, a re-rea *hic* d might do it good.

By: zarray

zarray — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:07:00 +0000

.,,

By: zarray

zarray — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:05:00 +0000

Isn’t beer that’s too beerey beer that’s had too much hops?

By: zarray

zarray — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:03:00 +0000

But I can’t buy wine at the grocer in my state.

By: Petzl

Petzl — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 02:14:00 +0000

Whenever I watch Ferriss, I feel the need to wash my eyeballs.

By: Wayne Dyer

Wayne Dyer — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 01:56:00 +0000

I should add — heavy aeration isn’t appropriate all the time. Check the wine when you open it. If it smells sharp and pointy, aeration will do it good. Taste it first. If it tastes sharp and pointy, aeration will do it good. If it smells soft and tastes lush — aeration won’t improve it.

By: Wayne Dyer

Wayne Dyer — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 01:54:00 +0000

Have a Vinturi. When I got it my wife wanted to know why I use it — she rarely drinks wine. And when she does, she often puts it on ice. (!!) So next time I opened a bottle, I poured a sip for her straight out of the bottle, she took a sip, and then poured another through the Vinturi. Her eyes lit up. It’s great especially for reasonably-priced wines which can be a bit alcohol-hot on the tongue. Cheap, reusable, should last forever unless I drop it.

But I’m not going to go the blender route.

By: glittalogik

glittalogik — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 01:00:00 +0000

One of the comments on Ferriss’ website asked if he’d acquired his stove from a FEMA trailer, but he’s stated previously that he travels a lot and eats out pretty much constantly, I’d guess homewares aren’t a huge priority.