Three Cheers for TRIbella Aerator ~by Terry Nozick

Three Cheers for TRIbella Aerator

One of the things that wine geeks like myself relish is the ritual of opening a beautiful bottle of wine, popping the cork (or twisting off a cap more often these days), selecting a glass (will it be stemmed or stemless?), and then, the pour. It’s all just so elegant and rewarding.

Unless, of course, you over-pour, which is one of my peeves. I don’t like getting too much in my glass at one time. I also don’t like the little drip that often lands on my tablecloth.

I have now found what I think is the perfect tool to address my wine-pouring issues, the TRIbella™ aerator. I’ve had it a couple of weeks now and have been using it on all my red wines, because as an aerator, it’s not really for white wines. But I’m beginning to think I will use it on all my wine, no matter the color, as it’s just a beautiful way to pour wine. And a little sexy too.

The simple yet elegant device fits into a wine bottle the same way a wine stopper does. A rubber sleeve on the device creates a seal. Three holes in the bottom (wine side) of the TRIbella (hence its name) create three thin streams of wine out of the bottle. Held over a wine glass, the flow is quite pretty and creates a bit of froth in the glass from the exposure to oxygen. The amount of froth depends on how high you hold the bottle over the glass. You can get dramatic with you pour!

My favorite part of the TRIbella is that you can pour with no drips. In all my attempts to create a drip, I’ve failed, making this device perfect for winery tasting rooms or any event where lots of wine is being poured.

I’m not completely convinced that the wine poured through aerators does in fact benefit from oxygen exposure. I frankly cannot discern a difference between flash-aerated wine and wine poured without an aerator. But there is oxygen exposure, so my attitude is it can’t hurt the wine. I’ve also tried the Vinturi (www.vinturi.com) aerator and I find that one a bit clunky to use. TRIbella is three times more fun, in my opinion.

TRIbella comes in a handy carrying case, shaped and sized like an eyeglass case, making it easy to pack in a purse, pocket, or picnic basket. Through crowd-funding site www.kickstarter.com, creator Skip Lei raised 178% of his needed funds, and launched TRIbella earlier this year. It’s $40 and can be purchased at www.tribellawine.com.

It’s the perfect gift for the wine geek in your life.