Squeeze... pour... and voila! A perfect pour

Every now and again an invention comes along which changes your life. Electronic eyebrow tweezers, Trinny & Susannah knickers, the AbCircle Pro and those long, slightly bendy plastic stick-things that help you throw a tennis ball for miles and miles for your dog to chase.
Like these life-essentials, those inventions may also be slightly dopey-looking, but after a few tries you'd sooner gouge your own eyeball out with a spoon than go without.
However, when my husband copped sight of my new Rabbit Aerating Pourer sitting on the kitchen bench among a bunch of open bottles of red wine he was not impressed.
''What the hell is this?'' he barked accusingly, ''it's bad enough trying to explain why our house is always full of booze, and now it's drugs?'' Poor thing, he mistook my Rabbit for what I'm assuming was a P pipe - but as soon as I plugged it into the neck of a bottle and showed him what it was capable of, he was also hooked.
It's been common knowledge since Adam was at kindergarten that red wines benefit from being sloshed around in oxygen, or ''aerated'' before being poured into the glass.
The reason for this is red wine contains all manner of aroma and flavour molecules that require oxygen and warmth in which to grow, reproduce and reach their full potential - which is why wine people swirl their glass before they sip. It's also why people often choose to decant their wines before serving. But how often do you have a decent decanter handy? And besides, if you're the impatient type decanting just takes too long.
But now we have the equivalent of a tiny wee decanter-bulb stuck on the end of a plastic tube which is squeezed into the neck of your bottle and, voila, you're decanting as you pour.
''We showed it to a group of businessmen at a 7am networking meeting this morning,'' said importer Peter Gebbie from Ascot Lane Distributors. ''We secretly poured a sample of pinot noir through the Rabbit which they really enjoyed, then we poured another sample of the same pinot straight from the bottle which they weren't that keen on. Those men were adamant that they were two different wines - that's the difference the Rabbit makes.''
Red wine can smell and taste thin, sharp and acidic when poured directly from a freshly opened bottle; whether you've paid $8 or $80, or whether you're drinking at 7am or 7pm, you'll want it to taste as good as it should.
The Rabbit Aerating Pourer by world-renowned wine accessories firm Metrokane is transparent so you can amuse yourself for hours just watching the wine swirl through it before reaching the glass, it fits securely in the bottle and won't fall out (I tested it thoroughly), it definitely improves the flavour and bouquet, it's easy to clean and fits in its own groovy little carry case.
Wine gadgets are good, but wine gadgets that actually work are exciting stuff indeed.
Available from Sovrano Italian Store (09) 271 5969 or email sovrano@xtra.co.nz to order yours.