Rouge O2 Electronic Wine Breather

shanel23

Bought one of these a few months ago and genuinely believe it's the best investment I've made in terms of turning an OK bottle of wine into a superior wine ! I bought it as a bit of a gimmick but now would swear by it .

Anybody else here use one ?

Mr Magnolia

Any good info on it?

BaZmO*

Sounds like a load of me @#~+#$ tbh.
Letting wine breath in a bottle is a misnomer, wine should be decanted if you want it to breath either into a proper decanter or the glass.

-edit Actually had a look at what the gadget actually does and well maybe it might have some affect after all..........maybe...

shanel23

Well basically it battery operated ( two AAAs I think ) and it has a metal rod ( about 10" in length )and according to the bumpf it delivers about the equivalent of 1 hrs "breathing" in 60 seconds. Makes a great racket as it's blowing the air but the change in taste in the wine has to be tried to be believed ! Bought it on Ebay for about €20 and have seen them in town ( Stock I think ) for €22 - 25

rubadub

If you open a bottle the neck is very narrow, so the exposed surface area is minimal, allowing little oxygenation to take place. It should be poured into a wide bottomed deacanter to maximise surface area. This device is similar to an airstone, they are used in aquariums and brewing. After boiling/heating up a mash/brew/wine/wash/wort prior to fermenting it will lose a lot of oxygen. The yeast initially needs oxygen to multiply, then when deprived of it later it turns more to producing alcohol.

An aqarium pump and airstone would do the job too. When I had my boiled wash I would simply get a big collander type strainer and scoop up the water, hold it high and allow it fall out the holes, this aerates it well. If you have a big glass jar or demijohn you could pour a full bottle in and swirl it around a lot, this would aerate it well. Pouring wine from a good height will also aerate it, this is why a waiter would do this, the wine is served to you and not let breathe enough. You can pour from glass to glass for the same effect, but it can be messy. Even just pour out a glass and recork it and shake it up really well, 2 mins of that will probably do more than an hour of standing with the narrow neck exposed.

You could even use one of the old guinness syringes!

shanel23

rubadub wrote: »

If you open a bottle the neck is very narrow, so the exposed surface area is minimal, allowing little oxygenation to take place. It should be poured into a wide bottomed deacanter to maximise surface area. This device is similar to an airstone, they are used in aquariums and brewing. After boiling/heating up a mash/brew/wine/wash/wort prior to fermenting it will lose a lot of oxygen. The yeast initially needs oxygen to multiply, then when deprived of it later it turns more to producing alcohol.

An aqarium pump and airstone would do the job too. When I had my boiled wash I would simply get a big collander type strainer and scoop up the water, hold it high and allow it fall out the holes, this aerates it well. If you have a big glass jar or demijohn you could pour a full bottle in and swirl it around a lot, this would aerate it well. Pouring wine from a good height will also aerate it, this is why a waiter would do this, the wine is served to you and not let breathe enough. You can pour from glass to glass for the same effect, but it can be messy. Even just pour out a glass and recork it and shake it up really well, 2 mins of that will probably do more than an hour of standing with the narrow neck exposed.

You could even use one of the old guinness syringes!

I remember those guinness syringes - what a mess they made when the guinness was'nt cold enough ...

Agree with all of the above - great thing about the breather is it's speed