How to aerate young wines
Aerating wine can improve its character.
(Image credit: iFavine website: ifavine.com)

Gadgets? Decanting? Of the many methods and devices for opening up young wines, find out what really works.

How to aerate young wines

Philip Spencer, Edinburgh, asks: I’ve read about various devices which purport to speed up the time it takes to aerate young wines. Do any of these really work and which, if any, would you recommend?

Ronan Sayburn MS, head of wine at 67 Pall Mall, replies:

There are several ‘aerator’ style devices that don’t make much difference. One I think that does help is iFavine. This micro-oxygenates the wine by bubbling oxygen, scrubbed from the air, through the base of a decanter.

It is very expensive, at more than £1,000 for one iFavine device, but it does work.

The easiest and cheapest way to aerate wine quickly is to pour the wine into a decanter through a funnel.

Don’t worry about creating bubbles on the surface of the wine, this is just getting air into it. Funnel back and forth between bottle and decanter several times for extra aeration.

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Ronan Sayburn MS
Ronan Sayburn MS
Decanter Magazine, Wine Writer & Master Sommelier

Ronan Sayburn MS holds the position of Chief Operations Officer for the Court of Master Sommeliers’ European chapter.  He runs his own consultancy and wine training company – The RS Wine Academy, specialising in managing private portfolios, wine training to the trade and public and wine events. He is a Master Sommelier, previous winner of the UK Sommelier of the Year competition and competed twice representing the UK in the European Sommelier Competition.He is also Head of Wine for a private members’ club in St James, specialising in fine wines, known as 67 Pall Mall, which has a collection of close to 5,000 references by the bottle and 500 wines by the glass. He stepped into the role of Regional Chair for USA at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards, he first judged the competition in 2004.