Soiree Signature Series Gift Set
$29.99 (Normally $50.00) 40% off List Price

In the box:
(1) Soiree Signature Series Gift Set includes:
Soiree In-Bottle Aerator
Wine Preserver
Compact Travel Case
Stand and Drying Rack
Gift Box

Website

The "leading wine aerator" offers a somehow different unit for white wine than red wine. (I only have the red wine one--bought it from Woot.) Are they right that red and white require different types of aerators or is this product's manufacturer right when it seems to be saying their wine aerator work on both red and whitee wine?

Also, what's the expected life of a glass aerator? I'm pretty rough on things, and like the acrylic (or arcrylic-like) durability of the one I have.

Another waste of a Wine Woot. What is with you guys? Woot, uh, let's see, WINE.

I bought this at an earlier Woot.com offering. It works. It "mellowed" the red wines I tried. I compared it to a venturi product and this was far superior. Maybe if I allowed the wine to aerate for several hours, I won't need anything else, but I don't wait that long to drink the stuff. Maybe if I spent several hundred dollars per bottle, I may not need the aerator, but I don't. One more thought, if you are trying to impress some babe, wipe this out, it will get her attention.

I have used this for about 2 years and love it! Be sure to turn the bottle fully upside down or your defeating the purpose. Only flaw is there is no strainer so for older wines that contain sediment you may want to use something else.

smartheart wrote:The "leading wine aerator" offers a somehow different unit for white wine than red wine. (I only have the red wine one--bought it from Woot.) Are they right that red and white require different types of aerators or is this product's manufacturer right when it seems to be saying their wine aerator work on both red and whitee wine?

Red & White wines will benefit with aeration. In general the deeper the color of the wine, the more oxygen will help open the flavors. Soiree works on compression & gravity. So the greater the angle in which you pour the bottle, the greater the aeration. Soiree can be poured on a gentle angle for sturdy white wines or even lighter reds (pinot noir). And for massive reds or wines with muted characteristics, pour inverted.

Greater Angle = Increased Aeration

Also, what's the expected life of a glass aerator? I'm pretty rough on things, and like the acrylic (or arcrylic-like) durability of the one I have.

The lifespan is pretty good, as a generality, if you can handle nice wine glasses, you will handle the Soiree just fine. Also, Soiree is made from Borosilicate glass (aka Pyrex (R)). It is quite durable and washes easy. And furthermore, plastic is a huge no-no in the world of wine, and Soiree prides itself as a true gourmet tool. We like to say, "if your aerator is turning red, your wine is turning aerator." Glass is the proper material for wine, and the Soiree is commonly touted for working naturally and gently.

Thanks for making the time to ask the questions.

ps. I heard their customer service is pretty good, so take that as added comfort.

lstoy wrote:I bought this at an earlier Woot.com offering. It works. It "mellowed" the red wines I tried. I compared it to a venturi product and this was far superior. Maybe if I allowed the wine to aerate for several hours, I won't need anything else, but I don't wait that long to drink the stuff. Maybe if I spent several hundred dollars per bottle, I may not need the aerator, but I don't. One more thought, if you are trying to impress some babe, wipe this out, it will get her attention.

Love to hear it! Soiree is always a great conversation starter.

Cheers!

bigfrank wrote:I have used this for about 2 years and love it! Be sure to turn the bottle fully upside down or your defeating the purpose. Only flaw is there is no strainer so for older wines that contain sediment you may want to use something else.

You are spot on! Thanks for commenting. And watch for some fun products from us, think you'll be happy.

I've had the Soiree for at least two years and I love it. I did alot of looking around before I bought. This does a trerrific job while being a beautifully designed item. It's lovely to see the wine swirling around the cut glass design!! Mine came with two rubber gaskets to fit any bottle- not sure if this one does. It sits on its drying stand so it can store perfectly. I really wish mine had come with a carrying case though. For the price point, you can't go wrong. The other aerators on the market are so over priced.

Where was this before Father's Day? Oh, well.

ThunderThighs wrote:Pffffft. Thursdays are always our "Out of the Box" days on Wine.Woot.

Yes but I've come to expect gourmet food items. This is too wine-y for Thursday! (I know, you just can't please some people...)

I just want to add a note on the company's great customer service. I bought one of these a few years ago in a tasting room, and it didn't come with the rubber connectors. I sent them a note and Soiree sent me 4 at no cost.
And it works great!

I admit that I don't always take the time to read the product write-up but this one was spot on! Good job!

Bought this when it popped up on the woot off many months ago. I absolutely love it. You can notice the difference immediately in the nose. It certainly opens my reds up significantly faster than when I do not use it.

I would and have recommended this to many friends/family. It is very easy to use, especially compared to many others I have seen out there. The aerator cleans very quickly and the stand is perfect for drying storage.

You won't regret if you buy in my opinion.

I bought a couple of these on Woot. They were cheaper, but these are more of a gift set.

I have both the Vinturi and this one and this is my preferred aerator. First, it seems to work better. Second, it's easier to clean. Third, it looks much prettier.

My only hang-up is that pushing this thing onto the end of the bottle and then inverting the whole thing is kind of scary. If I don't have three hands (one for the glass, one for the Soiree, one for the bottle), I'm always wary about using this device anywhere except over the sink. Don't get me wrong: the flow rate is nice and slow - you're not going to get too much in your glass. I just worry about the stopper coming out and soaking me and my dining room in expensive staining grape juice...

I can attest to the durability of this aerator. While I cringe and hold my breath every time I do this, I've bounced it off our counter tops a few times and it has stayed in one piece.

I'll also second the great customer service. One of my rubber gaskets tore and the company sent me a new set free of charge.

Great product!

lstoy wrote:One more thought, if you are trying to impress some babe, wipe this out, it will get her attention.

Yeah, babes love to see a guy clean stuff.

pelkeymf wrote:Yeah, babes love to see a guy clean stuff.

I think he meant "whip".

Anyone have a video of this in use?

I really like the Vinturi, so need some convincing that this is better.

Any chance we'll see a less expensive non-gift set version?

Also, the issue with sediment concerns me b/c much of the wine I have and especially some resent purchases are unfined. Will a filter adapter be available in the near future?

mschauber wrote:Anyone have a video of this in use?

I can't help you with the rest, but a quick search brought this video up:

Soiree Bottle Top Wine Aerating Pourer

It's a little stylized, but there are some slow motion shots of the pour.

Can someone who owns this set comment on the "wine preserver" part? I'm just interested to know what that is. Is it like a "vacuu-vin" kind of deal? A pump that removes air from the bottle? Or is it just a rubber stopper?

blakewoot wrote:Can someone who owns this set comment on the "wine preserver" part? I'm just interested to know what that is. Is it like a "vacuu-vin" kind of deal? A pump that removes air from the bottle? Or is it just a rubber stopper?

I'm also interested in opinions on this and the travel case. The preserver appears to just be a stopper...

*EDIT*: The "preserver" is a one-piece stopper w/ built-in pump, according to their website.

Basically, I could go elsewhere for just the aerator and stand and pay 40% less. Is it worth the extra $$ for the preserver and case?

smartheart wrote:The "leading wine aerator" offers a somehow different unit for white wine than red wine. (I only have the red wine one--bought it from Woot.) Are they right that red and white require different types of aerators or is this product's manufacturer right when it seems to be saying their wine aerator work on both red and whitee wine?

Also, what's the expected life of a glass aerator? I'm pretty rough on things, and like the acrylic (or arcrylic-like) durability of the one I have.

Stick with the acrylic. This thing is extremely *dangerous*.

I had this aerator and bought it off Amazon, though not with a special set but just the aerator for red wine (the big one).

The golden glass rim where it lets the wine out, is weaker and/or thinner than that of regular glass Hanukkah-bush ornaments.

Mine broke in such a dangerous and unnoticeable way that I would never, ever tell anyone to try these. Basically what happened was, after installing the aerator in the bottle, and this was probably the 4th or 5th time I was using it- after I poured, I went to set the bottle on my table, and shock of the bottom of the bottle touching down on a hard table, while still careful and not with any exaggerated force-- was strong enough to crack and chip the top opening of the aerator.

This however went unnoticed, because the chip went INSIDE the bottle- it was not until I was pouring the final glass that I saw a gold flake come through the wine and settle at the bottom of the wine glass-- I swooshed it around and found that it was a thin piece of glass from the aerator!!

Having said all this- I noticed the aerator said on it that it was hand crafted- so experiences may vary and it could have been my particular one.

**But I know that I pour wine for a lot of folks I care a great deal about and for me personally it is nowhere worth the risk to change from acrylic to this glass ornament style.**

For those whom already purchased this, my recommendation would be to check the rim of the aerator after EVERY pour, and every time you set the bottle down, no matter how softly.

PS: I instead use this well-reviewed acrylic aerator from Amazon and while I notice a difference between aerated and non-aerated wine, I do not notice a difference between this acrylic aerator and the Soiree I had.

Hoping Thursdays go back to being fancy food day soon...

dawnaroooskie wrote:I can't help you with the rest, but a quick search brought this video up:

Soiree Bottle Top Wine Aerating Pourer

It's a little stylized, but there are some slow motion shots of the pour.

Thanks for the link.

I'll never understand why advertisers, videographers, directors of photography, and editors insist on using a dozen different techniques in one short video. It's like every ad/show/movie has to be their entire CV. To say this video is, "a little stylized" just may be the understatement of the month ;)

None-the-less, it did the job and I appreciate you taking the time to find it, something that I was just too lazy to do earlier

For under $20 I'd give this aerator a try, but I hate paying for extras I don't need or want like the gift box and stopper. We'll see. Already made a woot today, so their all you can ship for $5 in a day just may do the trick and convince me to pull the trigger.

winesoiree wrote:

Do note, however, that the Soiree is made of thin glass requiring careful handling and its own cabinet -- or own house -- for storage.

My family is 0 for the 3 I purchased in the last woot. My father broke his before he even got it to the first bottle. My sister broke hers but is not fessing up to how. I treated mine with kid gloves and it lasted over a year, but then I tapped it accidentally with a bottle of wine preserver (irony!) and it shattered. Must have had just the wrong angle, because the canister is light as a feather.

That being said, if you have a special cabinet or somewhere away from everything else to keep it -- it is a great product. Beautiful to watch in action and personally I liked the resulting wine better the aeration provided by the acrylic competitor; it seemed less disruptive to the wine.

mschauber wrote:I'll never understand why advertisers, videographers, directors of photography, and editors insist on using a dozen different techniques in one short video. It's like every ad/show/movie has to be their entire CV. To say this video is, "a little stylized" just may be the understatement of the month ;)

None-the-less, it did the job and I appreciate you taking the time to find it, something that I was just too lazy to do earlier

For under $20 I'd give this aerator a try, but I hate paying for extras I don't need or want like the gift box and stopper. We'll see. Already made a woot today, so their all you can ship for $5 in a day just may do the trick and convince me to pull the trigger.

Ha, yeah, that might be an understatement! I did some looking afterwards and found the same video on the Soiree website, listed as their 2008 web ad or some such. A couple other "non-stylized" =P videos, too, but this one suffices to show the inverted pour and lower-angle pours for different levels of aeration.

I might just go for this Woot for the added bonus of the case. It looks like some extra insurance against mishaps during storage (my roomie owes me wine glasses!). Now if it could take the place of Scotchgarding my couches...

boice818 wrote:Hoping Thursdays go back to being fancy food day soon...

I wouldn't expect much during the summer. 95 degree weather and shipping of perishable food don't go together very well.

Obviously everyone differs, but we did a blind taste test comparing this, the Vinturi and nothing at all and this actually came in last in the testing. Again, it may be the way it was poured, the wine we used or the alignment of the stars, but that's what we found. I just saw them demo the stoppers at the LA Winefest a couple weeks ago. They looked interesting. They are basically a combination of pump and stopper. They were selling them at 2 for $20 which they said was the regular retail price. I wasn't ready to spend that. Maybe Woot will offer those without the Soiree and the carry case sometime soon?

(I can't speak directly to customer service but clearly they are active on the discussion here and the people they had at the Winefest were nice when we discussed the products with them.)

Can someone comment on the durability of the rubber around the insertion point? I have a similar product (not Soirée) that lost a not insignificant part of its rubber after only a few bottles.

Granted the company did ship me a thicker more durable replacement free of charge, but it was frustrating to have bought the thing only to have it rendered unusable in a short amount of time.

iByron

blakewoot wrote:Can someone who owns this set comment on the "wine preserver" part? I'm just interested to know what that is. Is it like a "vacuu-vin" kind of deal? A pump that removes air from the bottle? Or is it just a rubber stopper?

It is an all-in-one stopper with built-in vacuum pump. You can see it here: http://soireehome.com/products/stopair/

If you're getting this for a gift, you'll love it! And it is a great price for some key wine tools.

Cheers!

slm9951 wrote:I've had the Soiree for at least two years and I love it. I did alot of looking around before I bought. This does a trerrific job while being a beautifully designed item. It's lovely to see the wine swirling around the cut glass design!! Mine came with two rubber gaskets to fit any bottle- not sure if this one does. It sits on its drying stand so it can store perfectly. I really wish mine had come with a carrying case though. For the price point, you can't go wrong. The other aerators on the market are so over priced.

Thanks! Contact us, we may be able to find you a travel case for your kind endorsement.

iByron wrote:Can someone comment on the durability of the rubber around the insertion point? I have a similar product (not Soirée) that lost a not insignificant part of its rubber after only a few bottles.

Granted the company did ship me a thicker more durable replacement free of charge, but it was frustrating to have bought the thing only to have it rendered unusable in a short amount of time.

iByron

The gasket is made of food-grade silicone. While no product is perfect 100% of the time, we stand behind Soiree proudly. The gasket should last you years if you re using it weekly.

time2testit wrote:Obviously everyone differs, but we did a blind taste test comparing this, the Vinturi and nothing at all and this actually came in last in the testing. Again, it may be the way it was poured, the wine we used or the alignment of the stars, but that's what we found. I just saw them demo the stoppers at the LA Winefest a couple weeks ago. They looked interesting. They are basically a combination of pump and stopper. They were selling them at 2 for $20 which they said was the regular retail price. I wasn't ready to spend that. Maybe Woot will offer those without the Soiree and the carry case sometime soon?

(I can't speak directly to customer service but clearly they are active on the discussion here and the people they had at the Winefest were nice when we discussed the products with them.)

Thanks for your comments and glad you met Marshall at LA Winefest.

It is fair and safe to say that every wine will react differently when exposed to oxygen. And no matter what, oxygen will eventually tarnish a wine. As a generality, if you are aerating a wine that has high acidity, it will show the least signs of aeration. Whereas, wines that are higher in alcohol and are "riper" in flavor will show more evidence of reacting to aeration as their chemistry is more prone to short-term drinking.

And every aerator works different, be it injection, swirling, bubbling, or made of glass vs. plastic. All of these attributes in conjunction with the wide spectrum of wines made in the world - it is safe to say no two wine experiences will be the same.

As for the Stopair being on Woot!, I'm sure it will be some day, but more likely later than sooner.

Thanks for your comments and cheers until we see/chat again!

dawnaroooskie wrote:Ha, yeah, that might be an understatement! I did some looking afterwards and found the same video on the Soiree website, listed as their 2008 web ad or some such. A couple other "non-stylized" =P videos, too, but this one suffices to show the inverted pour and lower-angle pours for different levels of aeration.

I might just go for this Woot for the added bonus of the case. It looks like some extra insurance against mishaps during storage (my roomie owes me wine glasses!). Now if it could take the place of Scotchgarding my couches...

You two rock! My friend made that video, and let's just say I am smiling, as you guys are spot-on with the comments.

Hope you guys jump on this Woot, I am pretty certain you will be happy you did!

Cheers!

scottmcj wrote:Do note, however, that the Soiree is made of thin glass requiring careful handling and its own cabinet -- or own house -- for storage.

My family is 0 for the 3 I purchased in the last woot. My father broke his before he even got it to the first bottle. My sister broke hers but is not fessing up to how. I treated mine with kid gloves and it lasted over a year, but then I tapped it accidentally with a bottle of wine preserver (irony!) and it shattered. Must have had just the wrong angle, because the canister is light as a feather.

That being said, if you have a special cabinet or somewhere away from everything else to keep it -- it is a great product. Beautiful to watch in action and personally I liked the resulting wine better the aeration provided by the acrylic competitor; it seemed less disruptive to the wine.

I use a can of aerosol wine preserver to store left over wine. It’s the only thing that keeps wine un-aged for 10-15 days. In my experience, no vacuum unit lasts for more than a day or two.
For those who have not used this - it’s a mix of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The carbon dioxide, being heavier than air, forms a layer over the wine (upright bottle) and stops the oxygen getting to the wine. So simple and work like a charm.
I gave my partially used can to a friend and just bought a new one today. Hope Woot will offer it one of these days.