Tricking the Taste Buds: How to Make Bargain Wine Taste Expensive

Wine lovers rejoice! The secret has been revealed on how to make an inexpensive bottle of wine taste like that of high-end quality. How you might ask? Hyperdecanting. Though it sounds complicated, the only tool you’ll need is a blender and, of course, your favorite bargain brand wine.

Decanting, put simply, is the process of transferring wine from its container into another receptacle before being served. This allows for the separation of sediment (mostly found in older wines) and the aeration of wine. The wine mixes with oxygen, allowing it to take on richer flavors and have stronger aromas. Decanting is what causes the wine to come to life.

The technique, however, can take some time. Most of us don’t posses the patience of waiting hours or days for the wine to reach its up-most potential. That’s when wine enthusiasts discovered that putting wine in the blender, although seems crazy, speeds up the decanting process. Hence the name “hyperdecanting”. Many believe that by putting wine in the blender for 30 seconds causes it to age close to five years. The process is simple: put the wine in the blender, turn it on for half a minute and then wait for the froth to subside. Voila! Your simple shelf wine has an expensive taste.

As this phenomenon grows, many people are putting the wines to the taste. In fact, Good Morning America created a blind taste test including an $89 Cabernet Sauvignon and two $7 bottles. One, of which, went through the blender. They gave the samples to experts, novices and sophisticated wine drinkers.

The experts chose the $89 bottle as their favorite, and the blended version their least favorite. The novices, however, chose the opposite. They liked the blended $7 best and the $89 bottle least. The rest of the testers followed a similar pattern of liking the $89 bottle best, the blended $7 next, and lastly the untouched $7 bottle. In the end, the hyperdecanted bottle consistently scored better than the regular, cheap bottle.

Some argue that decanting causes the wine to lose some of its more earthy tones and tannins. However, this simple trend can be done in no time at all, so why not give it a shot? Conduct your own taste test and let us know your results at @Uncorkdmenus