There are two similar, yet different, products sweeping Napa Valley and the wine world as a whole, both designed to allegedly make your wine drinking experience better, simpler and more fulfilling. I’ve actually received a multitude of emails about them and many Napa wineries are even using these for wine tastings (and selling the products as well). Both inventions essentially promise the same thing; to make wine, especially red wine, more approachable, softer and easier to enjoy and drink (quicker).

	We begin with the Versovino, which my wife describes as a “wine bong,” because of its’ shape. It’s about $40 and bills itself as an instant decanter, designed to allow you to “open up,” a glass of wine instantly, rather than waiting for an entire bottle to breathe.
	The Versovino simply screws itself into the opening of the wine bottle.
	Once the Versovino is attached, you pour a full glass of wine into the Versovino, allowing the wine to decant.
	It’s then an easy process to pour the “decanted” wine into a glass and enjoy.
	To test the Versovino, I used a bottle of 2003 Conn Creek Cabernet, a great wine that is definitely still young and benefits from the effects of oxygen, breathing and decanting.

OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THE VERSOVINO: At first, I didn’t sense any difference between the glass poured through the Versovino and the glass I poured directly from the bottle. 15 minutes later though, there was a noticeable difference between the two. The glass filtered through the Versovino was softer, more approachable and flavorful than the glass straight from the bottle. Basically, the Versovino clearly gives a glass of wine a head start on decanting and opening up, but it also is not an “instant” fix. Of course, if you just decanted an entire bottle, all of the glass would start to open up within 15 minutes after opening and decanting the bottle. The Versovino is a worthless invention unless you often open up entire bottles of wine, without the desire to decant and drink all of it in one night and/or if you often decide at the last minute to drink wine and don’t have time to decant it appropriately. Since many people fall into these two categories, it may prove to be well worth a relatively small investment of $40.

	Here we have the Vinturi, which also costs about $40 and also aims to speed up the decanting process of each glass of wine, and claims to do so by injecting the perfect amount of air into each pour through its’ unique funneling system.
	To use, the Vinturi is a slightly more simple process of holding it over a glass of wine and pouring the wine through.
	For the Vinturi, I used a bottle of 2004 Pride Cabernet Franc, an enormous red wine that greatly benefits from the effects of decanting and breathing.

OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THE VINTURI: Unlike the Versovino, I did notice immediate results with the Vinturi. Upon first pour, the glass filtered through the Vinturi was noticeably more balanced, softer and better. 20 minutes after opening the bottle, however, a glass poured directly out of the bottle was just as smooth as one filtered through the Vinturi. Essentially, the Vinturi is the exact same as the Versovino, only quicker. Both of these inventions would be worthless with simple proper planning and decanting, but I suppose they both play perfectly to our fast-food, want-it-now society. For $40, owning at least one of them is probably not a horrible idea for any confirmed wino, but I find it hard to excitedly endorse either.