Brother, can you spare a bottle for Haiti?

Damon Winter/The New York Times

The good folks at Brother, can you spare a bottle and Palate Press have joined forces with a number of generous winemakers and other wine trade contacts to create numerous auctions, the proceeds of which will go to the American Red Cross to help support the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti.

Please follow the link to Palate Press (or the advertisement at top right) to donate wine or participate in the auctions, or follow the link directly to the American Red Cross if you would prefer to make a direct donation.

In the UK you may prefer to go directly tothe Disasters Emergency Committee.

We all know how awful the situation is in Haiti - a nation already struggling with extreme poverty now faced with a natural disaster the like of which it has never faced. Please give whatever you can.

Vinturi red wine aerator - great little gadget

I read up about this clever item before adding it to my wishlist at Amazon.co.uk this Christmas. Fortunately my parents dutifully bought it for me as a gift and I had the chance to test it out over the holidays. It really does make a difference to a red wine, although I think the effect is more obvious with heavier, or more tannic wines that are robust enough for aging.

It opens up the aroma and softens any rough tannins from younger wines just enough, thereby avoiding  any need to decant. I suppose it could be used to open up a whole bottle as you decant it, but so far I've only used it to pour by the glass.

On opening the wine, just pour it into the glass through the Vinturi aerator and it will bubble and gurgle amusingly, all the while introducing just the right amount of air to the wine via a clever capillary action, which takes advantage of the Venturi effect and Bernoulli's Principle, something I recall learning all about at university when I studied fluid dynamics!

At £35.40 from Amazon.co.uk (current price as at 6th January 2010) this is an ideal gift for a loved one who enjoys red wine - it really saves having to wait for a good quality wine to aerate!

I am sure there are detractors who will consider this sort of device is an improper way to treat good wine - my message to them: don't knock it until you've tried it!