New wine bottle eliminates need for decanting; lovers of fancy glassware unhappy
Many wine lovers see the act of decanting a bottle as part of a beautiful age-old ritual and an art form (yes, there’s even a coffee table book about it). But a Spanish Michelin three-star chef has developed a new kind of wine bottle that he claims will revolutionize the world of wine by rendering decanting unnecessary. Red wines often form gritty sediment as part of the aging process, and carefully pouring the wine into a decanter keeps that sediment out of your glass. Martín Berasategui’s new invention traps the unwanted grit before it leaves the bottle.
For Toronto sommelier Zoltan Szabo, decanting wine serves many purposes: it helps aerate the wine, it brings it up to room temperature and, of course, it eliminates the sediment. But just as importantly, it’s part of a sommelier’s showmanship. “What about the flair? What about the beauty of being in this business?” he says. “It’s like going to a theatre when you dine. The curtain goes up and the act begins.”
In Szabo’s opinion, some new innovations, like this bottle and the iPad wine lists that are becoming popular, are threatening to dehumanize and de-romanticize the experience of drinking wine. “If this is the path that we’re heading down, a few years from now, someone will hand you a pill and say, ‘This is cabernet sauvignon,’” he says.
While we’re not sure the bottle’s funky shape is doing it any favours, we’re still trying to decide whether or not we should steal Szabo’s alcohol pill idea.
• Spanish chef has the bottle to do away with dregs of a fine vintage [Guardian]
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Many wine lovers see the act of decanting a bottle as part of a beautiful age-old ritual and an art form (yes, there’s even a coffee table book about it). But a Spanish Michelin three-star chef has developed a new kind of wine bottle that he claims will revolutionize the world of wine by rendering decanting unnecessary. Red wines often form gritty sediment as part of the aging process, and carefully pouring the wine into a decanter keeps that sediment out of your glass. Martín Berasategui’s new invention traps the unwanted grit before it leaves the bottle.
For Toronto sommelier Zoltan Szabo, decanting wine serves many purposes: it helps aerate the wine, it brings it up to room temperature and, of course, it eliminates the sediment. But just as importantly, it’s part of a sommelier’s showmanship. “What about the flair? What about the beauty of being in this business?” he says. “It’s like going to a theatre when you dine. The curtain goes up and the act begins.”
In Szabo's opinion, some new innovations, like this bottle and the iPad wine lists that are becoming popular, are threatening to dehumanize and de-romanticize the experience of drinking wine. “If this is the path that we’re heading down, a few years from now, someone will hand you a pill and say, ‘This is cabernet sauvignon,’” he says.
While we’re not sure the bottle's funky shape is doing it any favours, we're still trying to decide whether or not we should steal Szabo’s alcohol pill idea.
• Spanish chef has the bottle to do away with dregs of a fine vintage [Guardian]){kind=link}
I support Zoltan Szabo’s position entirely. Part of the fun surrounding wine culture is the mystique and romanticisim of it–take that away, and we might as well be drinking grape juice!
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http://torontowineknows.blogspot.com/
Wow ! I would like to congratulate and thank Martín Berasategui’ on this great innovation….I guess we will get to see more of such crazy ideas at the Winter Fancy Food Show
– you can log on to http://www.biztradeshows.com/trade-events/winter-fancy-foodshow.html for the complete detail and if you happen to miss it you can also visit us later for post show reports
100% Agree with Zoltan. decanting is needed to let the wine breathe – i wouldnt age a wine in this bottle for 10-20+ years and then drink it straight from the bottle, that is just silly. aging wines for many years on their sides = sediment built along the entire length of the bottle = bad design as pouring straight from this bottle to glass will let sediment into your glass.
I find the design and claim by this three star chef to be very shocking, “that he claims will revolutionize the world of wine by rendering decanting unnecessary” – such a comment may suggest that he does not fully understand why we decant aged wines.