Wine Straws?

It’s been a while since my last post.  Work has been especially busy and the NCAA tournament has taken up much of my down time.  But now that things have slowed a bit, I’ll have this week to get the blog back on track.

A friend forwarded me an ad for a new wine product that claims to allow you to “drink red and smile white.”  I’ve seen a lot of products claiming to protect your teeth from the purple tinge that red wine imparts, but never one like this.  The Wine Straws are little straws specifically made for drinking red wine.  The idea is that you use the straw to bypass your teeth and get the wine straight to your tongue and throat without dirtying the teeth.  I’ve never tried to drink wine out a straw, but I’m skeptical that doing so would allow you to experience a wine to its full potential.  My reasoning for this is that different parts of your mouth detect different tastes, so in order to fully experience a wine you are required to move it around in your mouth and get a complete feel for the wine.  Now, you can certainly move the wine around in your mouth and get a taste for it drinking out of a straw, but the purpose of the straw is to keep your teeth from coming into contact with the wine, and I cannot see how the wine would not touch your teeth when you move it around your mouth.  The purple tinge you get in your mouth is just one of the things you have to live with when drinking red wine.  I haven’t ever seen a product that can keep your teeth white without ruining the wine.  Just remember to brush your teeth after and you’ll be fine.

Now, after looking at Wine Straw’s website, I have to say that while I think the drink red, smile white claim is rubbish, but I do like their idea of these little straws offering a new take on the old wine glass markers.  Their current offerings are only for clear straws, but if they develop colored straws, they could be a new way to distinguish your wine glass at a party.

All in all, I’m not a fan of little wine gadgets like this.  I’d rather just have the essentials and spend my money on good wine and food to accompany it.