Wine: To Breathe?or Not to Breathe?

[docsconz]

I always taste the wine after I open it with a small pour straight from the bottle. I will let the wine breathe or not depending on that taste. If it is bright and I am not quite ready to drink it, I will just leave it in the bottle. If it seems a little closed I will either decant it or simply pour it out into glasses to hold. Last night I did just that with a 1996 Corton. On first pour the wine was very closed. After about 30 minutes in the glass it was marvellous.

[Brad Ballinger]

there's a funny aphorism that goes something like: the british like to drink their wines old so people will think they inherited them; the french like to drink their wines young because they're afraid the socialists will take them.

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The rest of that quip goes "And Americans drink their wines at the right time because they don't know any better."

All of this boils down to one major factor in wine appreciation and consumption -- preference. A few have touched upon it. The answer to the question as to whether or not it's best to decant and aerate a wine is to ask how the individual prefers his or her wine.

[Gifted Gourmet]

A perfect for the topic article here called Let it breathe:

Reductive smells can be detected in young wines from barrel or bottle and are of a slightly volatile, green-cabbage character. This develops when the wine has begun to age in an anaerobic environment (ie, without oxygen), so allowing oxygen back into the wine opens it up and creates a blossoming effect with the aromas.

This is more likely to be necessary for wines of one to four years of age, depending on the style of the wine. Roughly, the heavier and more tannic the wine, the better it will benefit from aerating... all complex wine will benefit.

[djsexyb]

A perfect for the topic article here called Let it breathe:

Reductive smells can be detected in young wines from barrel or bottle and are of a slightly volatile, green-cabbage character. This develops when the wine has begun to age in an anaerobic environment (ie, without oxygen), so allowing oxygen back into the wine opens it up and creates a blossoming effect with the aromas.

This is more likely to be necessary for wines of one to four years of age, depending on the style of the wine. Roughly, the heavier and more tannic the wine, the better it will benefit from aerating... all complex wine will benefit.

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Good Find!