Review on 🍷 Enhance Your Wine Enjoyment with Ullo Chill Wine Purifier + Carafe by Alfredo Testerman

As a staunch wine connoisseur, I was thrilled when I got my hands on the Ullo Wine Purifier and tried it out. I own many wine toys and gadgets, but this one is particularly unique as it claims to filter out sulphites. I am not a chemist or winemaker. I'm a collector and a drinker. So my rating is based purely on taste, not whether it actually achieves its goal of filtering out sulphites and other contaminants. Testing for this is above my salary. The device consists of several parts. The large black piece is metal and should be kept in the freezer if you want to chill the wine you pour into it. They claim that the wine is chilled by 10 degrees and my testing confirmed this to within a degree or two. The plastic base unscrews and you insert the disposable sulfite filter into the small blue holder. The bottom is then screwed back on and you decide whether you want to aerate or not. This is a little tricky as the blue disc holding the filter needs to be positioned correctly for proper ventilation. Sometimes it can also be a bit difficult to put it back together if it's not aligned properly. So I would give the design 3 out of 5 points. Plus, that clear plastic is beautiful from the start. But like my other wine pourers and aerators, expect it to turn red at some point. Wash it with hot water immediately after use to prolong its beauty. But if you use it often enough, it's likely to become unsightly, like my other clear plastic devices. The device is quite heavy as most of it is made of metal. The carafe included in the set is very well made. It's thick and fits the filter with no problem. It's wide enough to allow for adequate ventilation, but as you'll soon read, that's not really necessary. I would NOT put the filter part on top of a glass, certainly not one as thin as a Riedel. At this time of year I mainly drink red wines. Most from California. My signature Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley or the Sonoma Coast. Cabernet from Napa (both valley and mountain fruit). There is also a selection of other reds that I drink such as Zinfandel, Petit Syrah etc. I have tested this on 5 different wines. Two Pinots are young wines from 2018 and 2019. Two Cabernets - one 2007, the other 2014. And Turly Zinfandel 2016. This device worked the same on all wines. Wines filtered through this device changed dramatically when using a disposable filter. I can't say that about even my best aerators. The taste of the wine became softer and softer. Tannins have been greatly reduced to a minimum. This became clear when I conducted a blind taste test. You also need to be careful when there is debris in the bottle as the filter will clog and slow down. Again, I don't know if sulphites and impurities are removed. But the resulting wine is softer and silkier. However, I'm not sure if I personally like the results. I'm a wine botanist. I want to taste the wine in its original form straight from the bottle. I want it to breathe I want to see how it develops or in some cases worsens. I don't want the filter to remove tannins. I want the food I eat to help soften them and I want to see what happens when the wine sits in my glass carafe for an hour. This device is not for me. That works great. He seems to do what he says. This is a fun experiment. I can use it for lingering wines where the tannins just don't integrate with decanting, buttering, etc. But for my average Cabernet or Pinot, I'd rather not mess with it. I should also caution against using this for very old wine as you could remove and destroy the remaining structure. I never thought of using this on a 25 year old Bordeaux or Burgundy. In conclusion, if you have a problem with sulfites, try this. If you want to drink red wine but don't like natural tannins, use this one. It's just not for me and my way of drinking wine.