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Pastimes : Wine You Can Enjoy @ Under $20 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: X Y Zebra who wrote (1064)	1/3/2010 6:40:11 PM
From: SG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1277

Preliminary report of effect of "Deluxe Vintage Enhancer" on aforementioned Aussie shiraz...it works as advertised. My wife and I did several blind tests of 45 minutes in balloon glass vs. wine from 45 minutes in wine enhancer. Both of us noticed gross change in degree of tannins, with enhancer greatly reducing their perceived taste. The manual says that it uses "electromagnetic waves" (radio frequencies) to lower pH levels of wine, reduce the acidy flavor, mellow the bite of young wines, and soften the tannic bite. All I can say it that it appears to do this, though I suppose I could actually measure the pH with a meter or strips for an objective measure. I have a pretty solid chemistry background but have no knowledge of the effect of radio frequencies on pH. I still don't like this wine, even with reduced acidity, LOL. The manual (which has charts for times for various wines) cautions about over-enhancing and ruining the balance of a wine. I can see that you could do that. It also cautions that if you like a wine, don't enhance it. As they note, the enhancer won't turn cheap wines into expensive wines but will make cheap wines more palatable. Who knew. I will try this on younger wines that seem too tannic to me. I don't know if this is still in production or worth obtaining if you are an expert. SG

To: X Y Zebra who wrote (1064)	1/3/2010 8:11:13 PM
From: Thomas Mercer-Hursh	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1277

My point here is that we have two different issues. One is chemistry, one is perception or what it is one wants to accomplish. A very cold cellar doesn't make for better aging, it just makes the aging take longer. So, if I am interested in tasting my wines any time soon, I sure won't cellar them at 35°. Too be sure, this isn't a simple turn the knob and the exact same thing happens at a different pace, but a lot of it is if one keeps within normal ranges. I.e., nothing wrong with a 60° cellar if one recognizes that wines will age noticeably faster there than in a 50° cellar. To me, that is a good thing because I would like to get to the aged wine sooner rather than later. But, if one had a lot of wine that one didn't expect to age particularly well, one might want to keep it in a really cold cellar to slow it down. As to the original question, I thought that was answered by "market". If you buy a new magnum from a current vintage, you are likely to pay more for it than double the 750ml price. But, on the collector's market, it is entirely a question of what people want more. There is nothing about the contents of a $6000 of wine that make it actually worth $6000, i.e., it is not 300 times better than a $20 bottle. It is simply worth $6000 because someone is willing to pay that much to own it. Apparently, there is less market for the magnum size in this case.